Issue 5: Mark Thalman

Wilson River: First Outing after Quadruple Bypass

Along the upper reaches, fog hangs thick

against basalt cliffs––steep mountainsides,

where wisps slide through fir tops. 

Mist coalesces on pine needles––

drops reflecting sky,

shining as if they had their own light.

Walking this path with my wife,

we pass by bright green carpets

of moss and bracken. 

All this color sloshed higher

than a full rack of antlers,

a flood of lichen.

Stopping at the meadow’s edge,

we sight the tallest fir,

top dead––hit by lightning. 

Bark still bares the scar

the bolt traveled, as does my chest

from the heart surgeon’s scalpel.  

Sometimes, eagles perch here––

survey the fast curving ribbon

running high from snowmelt.

Having survived off the winterkill of elk,

it is nearly time for them to feast on spring run salmon,

add more sticks to the nest started last year.

Mark Thalman is the author of Catching the Limit (Fairweather Books, 2009), and he is the Editor of poetry.us.com.  His work has been widely published for almost four decades.

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