Canadian Poetry Online top banner link to Canadian Poetry Online home page link to University of Toronto Libraries home page

Pond Life

Margaret Lindsay Holton


while handsome bullrushes finally spear up
as drooping willows listfully weep
and a miniature tree frog chorus bellows
at a throaty red-winged black bird swaying
while big mud turtles freeze frame
as daring dragonflies whiz by
and feverish minnows hopefully charge
at long-limbed water spiders skating
while wood ducks snort green algae
as black-eyed snakes weave ribbons
and Queen Anne ruffles her fine lace
at a common thistle braying
while merry buttercups pucker up
as delicate bluebells dingle dangle
and a Great Blue Heron stares
at a prickly porcupine playing
while broad leaf burdocks brood
as Virgina creepers steal wild grapes
and Canadian geese back paddle
at a coyotes wet shadow fleeting
while a young buck antlers tilt
as several barn swallows swoop
and mysterious brown bats dervish
at mosquitoes buzzing flourish
— this pond lives on

It had it all.
As I recall.

2001



Margaret Lindsay Holton's works copyright © to the author.


Canadian Poetry Online bottom banner link to University of Toronto Libraries home page link to Digital Collections home page link to University of Toronto Library catalogue link to Canadian Poetry Online home page link to University of Toronto Libraries home page link to Contact Information page