OKAUCHEE
by Dirk Velvet
The
Blue Jays
woke us
at dawn
with their
jeering
calling to the cottage
from
weeping willows
whose roots
reached as far into the lake
as onto the land
The water was
cool green
at its best
and gray-black at its worst
Okauchee
nothing else mattered
Not
tangling weeds
floating fish
sinking rafts
Okauchee
it was all we ever knew
or
wanted
of summer
At dusk we piled into the attic
Strewed across mattresses
no longer wanted at home
we listened to
the bats chatter
as it lulled us
to
sleep
( Okauchee Lake. Okauchee Wisconsin )
Dirk Velvet’s poetry will appear in the Silver Birch Press Green Anthology, a collection of poetry and prose from writers around the world — available March 15, 2013.
Photo: Ken Blackwell, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Silver Birch Press 