The Old-growth Forest Trail

by Darrell Petska

Here must waft
the tang of joy
at its simplest:

feasting saproxylics—
tiny beetles,
blooming fungi—

imparting to the flesh
of long-fallen giants
life anew.

Flown

by Darrell Petska

That venerable philharmonic
fading forever into darkness—

nightingale’s flute
thrush’s piccolo
quail’s oboe

So long their symphonies
have raised dawn’s curtain

lark’s violin
goose’s cello
cuckoo’s clarinet

their voices now migrating
to archival recordings

woodpecker’s drumming
crane’s trumpeting
crow’s bassooning

silent stand stork and pelican
remembering lost brethren:

passenger pigeon, dusky sparrow
carolina parakeet, heath hen
ivory-billed woodpecker, great auk…

silence swelling
for the somber swan’s finale

One Earth, One Life

by Darrell Petska

Even to zoos come wars:
blaring sirens, bursting bombs,
bullets and shells that savage
the woven fabric of life—

Kiyv’s western gorilla, Tony, is depressed,
Horace the Asian elephant must be sedated,
Juto the giraffe has lost his appetite,
Christina the Asian lion is a bundle of nerves
and baby lemur Bayraktar must be hand fed
because his mother deserted him.

Fear, stress, loneliness—
provoking the pelicans to destroy their eggs,
the zebras to crash their fences,
and the remaining 4,000 innocents to endure
food shortage, daily disruptions of living
and the constant, debilitating awareness

of war’s clangor
tearing from Earth breath-filled throats
that trumpet, roar, and bray their right
to exist beside their human compatriots.

Alive

by Darrell Petska

gray squirrel

measured steps forward
hold
side flip left
hold
side flip right
millisecond hold
dart toward fence post
wheel/dart back
hold
hold
right roll twice

red cardinal alights
left glance
right glance

gone

Haibun

by Darrell Petska

Craggy burr oaks blot a waning moon. In the savanna, cricket songs cease. A screech owl somewhere among the stars has the final say. Weighty silence engulfs space, stills time, swallows a lone firefly’s blink. A foot, a hoof, disturb the woodland brome. They meld into night.   

  eight glinting moons

  snared by the dark branches—

  possum family

Just a Trim

by Darrell Petska

Cottonwood
ragged
rustling

billowing squall line
strikes

branches clash:
east-leaning, diseased lateral,
hanging stub, taken

west-facing lateral branch
pared,
weakly ascending scaffold branch
lopped

leafed twig fall
frittering down

brightening
rain patter
leaves

Wildlife

by Darrell Petska

The zoo giraffe
treading its concrete
winter quarters
pauses
with each circuit
before the small
high window
looking out on

the chain-link enclosure
of the Somali wild ass
listlessly chewing hay
beneath its lean-to
capped with snow

and the grey slate of sky
nearly as far from spring
as Africa.

Lines

by Darrell Petska

Walking through the woods
in search of inspiration—
oh, that blue jay's scorn!

Encounter on Effigy Hill

by Darrell Petska

Whomever you are,
leave this sacred mound
slumbering for millennia
among switchgrass and brome.

I am Turkey Mother,
spirit guardian of those
gone to the upper world
in the great migration of the dead.

Yes, run! And should you be spared
my pounding claws and lancing beak,
know I am pledged to my people
frantically calling me back.

No Haiku

by Darrell Petska

countless
floating
yellow
bellies

ancient
river

mouth choking
on moonlight

toxic
torpedo