Beneath

A turbid stream still flows

with old frogs and tadpoles.

You can catch them

if you dare put a hand in the murk.

Wipe the smear from what you find
to see the designs

that throbbed before receding

to age in sun and mud.

Complicit

What if we ignore the nudges

to do what we feel?

Our voices pinched and hands pocketed

by what might be.

It can take everything

to conclude.

And hesitations continue

to swallow possibilities.

Lift

I take a broken rod and find a way to catch a fish

extension is my wish

and to go far.

I aim to move

what I am is what I have to prove

the value of my paces.

I sometimes drop what I have found

my boots repeatedly gripping

then leaving the ground.