At the Drumlin Pond by Marianne Szlyk

Barefoot, I follow the black cat

to the pond.  Like his paws,

my feet read the ground: wet grass;

rough rocks, gifts from the glaciers;

oak leaves; firm earth.

Unlike his, my eyes and ears

are not on birds that dart

and twitter over water,

into trees. Later I learn

calls warn the flock. 

Flight distracts predators. 

My eyes and ears on the water,

I plash through green and gold

cool to the toes, unwittingly

warning the birds.

From the downed branch,

the cat glances at me

as if to ask for silence,

stillness, held breath.

I comply.

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Marianne Szlyk's most recent book is Poetry en Plein Air (Pony One Dog Press, 2020).  Her poems have appeared in Verse-Virtual, the Muddy River Poetry Review, the Sligo Journal, and other journals/websites.  Some poems have been translated into Polish, Italian, and Cherokee.