black bear
Category: forest
July’s white heat
blossoming wintergreen
gypsy moths
finding each other
without mouths
taking it slow
through the humid forest
yellow plasmodium
fallen
bird’s nest of roots
nowhere to turn
trailside camp
the Indian cucumber root’s
second story
stopping for the view
an inchworm’s pure green
on my hat brim
coffin-shaped spring
the plucked banjo string
of a tanager
rain still falling from the trees
wood thrush song
the millipede’s carnival colors
I forget where I am
half-way up the mountain
a whiff
of the river
up slope
on all fours
the growl in my chest
