Kristen Lindquist

Succession

Morning in an old spruce forest, fallen trees and patterns of light crisscross the mossy floor. Headed to the river, we weave ourselves carefully over and under tilted trunks, through tangles of branches, trying not to get hung up or impaled. Tiny starflowers shine where openings in the canopy let in some light. From above, the high-pitched songs of invisible warblers. Here and there we come up against dark walls of upended tree roots clutching rock clutter. Long humps of bright green moss reveal the ghosts of decaying logs. We follow when we can the paths deer have made through ferns and underbrush, finding, in a space between two fallen trees, where a deer bedded down, maybe last night.

springflow
a nymph tied with grouse feathers
drifts in an eddy

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About the Author

Kristen Lindquist is a poet, writer, and naturalist in Camden, Maine. She has published two collections of poetry and maintains a daily haiku blog at kristenlindquist.com/blog.