photo by Jan Wood

A Place of Deliverance

a sandwich, summer fruit
and a whole quarter section
with silver willow and a creek
the excitement of it
slides skin and shimmers
secrets deep and lush
like the inside of a church

temple songs part the grass,
melt into the trees
and weep from the sky
this is holy ground
the shrubs washed up clean
green towels on their shoulders
a quiet place in the reeds
to break bread and pray

a place where the mind gnaws
on what it believes and what it does not

By Jan Wood