narrow creek

piercing

the last worm

first step

the silent approval

of river ice

surface tension

a mayfly wriggles

from its shuck

another silence

between us

fishing with dad

poetry day

the classroom filling

with quiet sighs

open casket

those left standing

in her wake

MONOCHROME

A blanket of stratocumulus desaturates the tentative dawn, and the wind carries the chill of the lake. Boot prints draw jagged scars across the rain-damp shoreline. A dead carp is caressed by the edge of the surf. Bank swallows flit in and out of holes burrowed in the coarse sand. Around the bend, a great cone of stacked driftwood appears. The skeleton of a giant's teepee. Everything punctuated by the crisp snap of mechanical shutter.

gray waves advancing the film spool