are evergreen.
Author: Dave Bonta
I live in an Appalachian hollow in the Juniata watershed of central Pennsylvania, and spend a great deal of time walking in the woods. My books of poetry include FAILED STATE: HAIBUN, ICE MOUNTAIN: AN ELEGY, BREAKDOWN: BANJO POEMS, and ODES TO TOOLS.
But fists are lonely
vulnerable things that can never match the strength of linked hands.
Lay me in a fist-sized hole
feathered with rime.
mountaintop pond
the blind dog lapping
at her reflection
“A dinosaur.”
Said with a dismissive tone, as if it should’ve known the sky was glass.
Neurons take a dendritic form
to maximize their receptivity to the lightning of thought.
Let’s be honest:
we were adrift long before we were at sea.
The snow’s cold flesh
is as full of life as any corpse.
What brutal moonlight persisting throughout the day
has convinced us this stillness is meditative?
In the coming chill
we will all have to become subnivean.
What is more subversive than laughter?
Only love. Maybe.
sawed-off end of a log
sawed-off end of a log
now riddled
with openings
