Robert Schuler



AUGUST 4TH


bergamot bristles lavender
prairie coneflowers bob
their bright yellow heads
all of the round-
topped oaks on the hills
a hawk rides the morning
wind     whistling







JOURNAL: walking spring through the parc
Interstate Park, St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin



on the Skyline Trail a red-tailed hawk floats
over the meadows blossoming
violets white yellow blue

greening     alleys of trees rising
out of twisting paths of rocks and dust

mallards jump out of swamp bogs
sprinkled with marsh marigolds
six box turtles balance on a wobbling log

deer hightail it
cracking down ravines
pink spring beauties spring out of leaves

rose-breasted grosbeaks
and an Indigo bunting
chanting in the bushes

an eagle sails
high over the steep rockwalls of the Dalles
the foaming white-water narrows of the St. Croix
wild geranium and phlox spume
lavender out of corkscrewed glacial potholes

on Horizon Rock Trail
red-cockaded woodpeckers
slash through white oaks

five eagles breast
the rough black winds over Eagle Peak
red bells of columbine bob along the lichened rocks





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