This Boat
for TE
Were you two or three?
Strapped to my lap in the kayak
I paddled into the wetlands
past the sign that read “Go Back.”
Herons, pelicans, cormorants
flew close enough to touch,
and sun dazzled the murk below.
“In this boat, we can go anywhere,”
you said, then pressed your cheek
to my breast, and slept.
You were almost grown,
when you chose the unknown water.
If there were signs ahead,
I failed to heed, or even see, them.
*
New
That time in the park
at the end of the street
our dogs off leash
and we are off leash too
our love so new
we kiss and kiss
not caring for once
who sees us
what might be said
or be construed.
*
Donna Hilbert’s latest book is Threnody, from Moon Tide Press. Earlier books include Gravity: New & Selected Poems, Tebot Bach, 2018. She is a monthly contributing writer to the on-line journal Verse-Virtual. Work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Braided Way, Chiron Review, Sheila-Na-Gig, Rattle, Zocalo Public Square, ONE ART, and numerous anthologies. Poems have been featured on The Writer’s Almanac and on Lyric Life. She writes and leads private workshops in Southern California, where she makes her home, and during residencies at Write On Door County. Learn more at donnahilbert.com
I love the contrasting undertows between these poems. Thank you.
Nice! Two poems about unknown waters and braving them.
♥️