maple-leaf ironwork design: r. murre - execution: big horn forge - photoart: r. murre
Taps
by
Joan Wiese Johannes
It
is syrup time,
and
Tom tramps, taps, and talks
about
the bear who took ten buckets
and
left tracks around his camp.
He
shakes his head and says
he
hopes the fire
keeps
it away when he boils down,
tells
me he applied for a permit
as
he mimes the pull of a trigger.
But
I like his bear
will
follow the trail of white buckets,
drink
sap clear as streams.
I
plan to walk circles around spring
before
the big boil-down turns me
dark
as bear fur thick as blood.
~
first published in Peninsula Pulse
