Pencil on my Path
Under the lush canyon canopy I need yew to shape new words, the ribs of bark to lift with a new syntax as I place my hand, like a stethoscope, to measure its subtle breathing. I need crow to snip off the end of my sentence, pick it up and carry it elsewhere; to place a black feather between two incongruities, drop a stone to close them off. I want the understory of ferns and moss sponge to assert its rhythm, to bury mine in the shallow topsoil instead of standing upright, exposed, like wild pine mushrooms and Chanterelles far too indulgent when taken away from here. In that Old Man’s Beard there must be a yarn I can recycle; a story to unravel that will change everything.
*****
The Best Thing I’ve Seen Today
Along the road little bronze frog
hides in a litter of leaves.
You think I can not see you.
I won’t let on I can.
Instead, I will watch you
hold perfectly still
and let the sun light your penny eyes.
Carol L. MacKay is a writer and visual artist who creates poetry for both adult and young audiences. She was awarded the Society of Children’s Book Authors & Illustrators (SCBWI) Magazine Merit Award for Poetry in 2020. Her poetry recently appeared in the Random House anthology, Bless the Earth: A Collection of Poetry for Children to Celebrate and Care for Our World (2024) and her first full-length collection of poems, Bird, Making No Sound, was a finalist in the 2024 Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society Book Awards. She is a long-time member of the Writers Guild of Alberta.