Scott Hicks
Footprints Are Shadows
The smell of oak is pungent in the false summer quiet of the woodland hills. A fence-line boundary gives us pause on a crest overlooking swales of rangeland. Heading back, we revel in the truth of our footprints in the grass, a flicker’s hammering, the shapes of shade, and the din of white-crowned sparrows lining branches all around us. Mindfully engaged, we are startled by the screech of a red tail hawk overhead. In passing, its shadow penetrates us both, releasing the sense of it down to our cores. Afterward we speak in low voices of how lives can be so different in a moment.
blue lupine and buttercups lean with the breeze close enough to hear secrets
About the Author
Scott Hicks lives in the Central San Joaquin Valley of California and was introduced to writing poetry through mindful writing workshops as a therapeutic tool. He has continued to write and publish his poetry and prose because he finds it a meaningful addition to his life.