flood stage Wallowa River
Grass stems glitter above the weeds --
summer’s not here with a roar yet: oh,
but it has arrived, ready or not, here
it comes: dive into it as if
there is no other choice. And just there,
ducklings swim under the barbed wire
where the river still floods the place;
young quail scatter across the road
where it’s dry now – and up ahead,
empty hay trucks rumble along, making
way for winter, the season this place
loves as well as any other.
Kathy Bowman, Joseph, Oregon
