THE RIGHT NOUNS ARE JUST OUT OF REACH
Perched on a fallen oak,
she notes the lichen like a green aura
hovering between the rows of knobs
on the bark’s rough braille.
We are dust. We are spores.
The ruffle of turkey tail fungi
on the cut side of the log.
The mist of particulates
suspended in a slanting beam.
Copyright 2023 by Kim Roberts
Kim Roberts is a 2023 Poet-in-Residence at the Arts Club of Washington. She is the author of A Literary Guide to Washington, DC and editor of two anthologies of DC poets, most recently By Broad Potomac’s Shore, selected by the Centers for the Book for the 2021 Route 1 Reads program. Her sixth book of poems, Corona/Crown, a cross-disciplinary collaboration with photographer Robert Revere, will be released in Fall 2023 by WordTech Editions. http://www.kimroberts.org
30 for 30 is sponsored by Potomac Review
I particularly like the prosaic title juxtaposed to the lyricism of the poem itself. And having worked for RNIB (the Royal National Institute of Blind People), I really liked the use of the word “braille”.
Just lovely, the whole poem!