A Tremble of Roses

from Miracle Strip by Matt Layne

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lyrics

A Tremble of Roses

Rainbow-eyed dragonflies divebomb mosquitoes
as the Cahaba riffles copper-headed stones
and mussels whose names I didn’t know until
a gray haddock told me; a big blue and white bird,
likely a heron, stares as the sun reflects white diamonds
in the brown glass of water, and I’m not sure why this river
isn’t more revered, but we’re floating in our green canoe,
and the Cahaba is quiet and clear here, and my son,
he’s almost 3, points to the trees up a steep bank, and says,
when I was an old man, I used to live there with the animals.
Not a sound, no burble, babble, or caw as we drift beneath
that bluest of skies, nothing but a tremble of wild pink roses
as an old man slips back into the shade of trees.

credits

from Miracle Strip, released August 31, 2022

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about

Matt Layne Birmingham, Alabama

Poet, librarian, raconteur; Matt Layne has been poking hornet's nests and looking under rocks since he was knee-high to a peanut peg.
I reckon you oughta check him out.