Wednesday, March 4, 2015

Taps

maple-leaf ironwork design: r. murre - execution: big horn forge - photoart: r. murre


Taps
by Joan Wiese Johannes

It is syrup time,
and Tom tramps, taps, and talks
about the bear who took ten buckets
and left tracks around his camp.
He shakes his head and says
he hopes the fire
keeps it away when he boils down,
tells me he applied for a permit
as he mimes the pull of a trigger.

But I like his bear
will follow the trail of white buckets,
drink sap clear as streams.
I plan to walk circles around spring
before the big boil-down turns me
dark as bear fur thick as blood.


~ first published in Peninsula Pulse