The ponds film over with paint-thick algae,
a trap door into a second spring. The frenzied
flowers don’t know when to stop. The goats
have too much to eat, waterfalls roar and shake
like hungry trolls, and rocks dress up for a night
on the town. Mosquitoes and crickets and frogs
swing dance. Fiddles cut the dark and gusty sky.
Even stars get in the act, divebombing
the clouds with their tiny lights. I have been
far away. Tonight the darkness stands close,
hums swampy tunes—Come home where
life can whirl around you, desperate
with growth and shine.
Author of three books, Polly Buckingham is editor of Willow Springs magazine and teaches at Eastern Washington University. Polly once snuck a toad onto a sailboat that capsized. Though the demise of the toad can only be guessed, Polly learned that wild animals belong in the wild.