wildscape. literary journal

Appalachian Treeline
by Joshua Ward

            The bobcat moon paws at my feet from behind
the elk’s garden

Campanula dance in the wind like ravens,
		           finding love.

	     The lichen sighs, and springtail yawns
while the lower slope leaves choke
		         and burn orange.
	    The gentians gasp after
each swallowing of the bumblebee,
		         the musk of them on their petals
            just as the essence of blueberries
on my tongue.

	     All breaths condense into one vapor
at the summit; nuthatch,
		          salamander, spider in the moss,
	    and the lone man. 
The parapets of moss are chimneys, the trees
		          are chimneys, the mountain
	     is a chimney;
all falls upwards into the sleeping heaven,
		         or rises to greet it.


*Note: This poem was first published in Silhouette Literary and Art Magazine.

about the author // Joshua Ward