Hiking Toward the Sun

Poetry
Written By Brittany Garrett

Nancy Cherry

Alone, I am at ease with possibilities at my back
and spring at the front door. I take Lagunitas Trail
to hear what nature has to say—sparrow song,
the voice of owl, coyote in his winter coat.

White snags tower over scrub oak. They remind me of
the body I’ll leave behind when I’ve outdistanced time.
A jet cuts through blue sky as I think of friends who’ve
left this world. Sometimes I imagine they’re just out
of sight, their voices in my ear like morning birdsong.

Hiking toward the sun, I turn toward chaparral instead
of ocean, a little wind bending poppies and grass.
Beneath broken blooms of hemlock, I hear the sea.
Season’s end for ceanothus—more cold to come.

Nancy Cherry
Nancy Cherry is a North Bay Area poet and editor living in Novato, CA. Her poetry has appeared in Gyroscope, Nimrod, Calyx, Mid-American Review, and West Marin Review. She was recently recorded in Berkeley, CA at voetica.com/poets/1001/5 if you would like to hear her read.

Brittany Garrett
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Late Night Arrival