Up early out on the boat dock reading Tu Fu;
first rays of the sun warm on my back.
A kingfisher flits by all color and speed;
swallows perform kamikaze-stunt-pilot acrobatics.
Storm detritus and duckweed make
an abstract painting out of the water’s surface.
Petulant chatter of magpies and jackdaws
high above in the wind-rocked birch trees.
The phenomena and their dizzying chimeras
moving into place on the event horizon—
the domain of sensations swiftly filling up;
steam still rising from today’s first cup of coffee.
—Mark Terrill
Collage ©Ruth Terrill
.