Egret
By Carolyn H. Zukowski
It’s #tbt! Enjoy this great one from SWWIM Every Day‘s archives!
A stand-alone herald of light in the marshes
among the reed beds. Contemplate. Question
the shallows for toads and newts. Still, the body
an exclamation point between land and sky
or a divining rod between land and water.
Regrets start
like this—a stone unturned. Thoughts, minnows
left unpursued. Weather threats. Risk
the awkward pull of flight. A reach of wings
draws shadow over the hot salt flats. To land
is to make a slow, murky splash. Repeat.Carolyn H. Zukowski is an American poet whose work has been shaped by years of living between cultures and languages. She lives in Český Krumlov, Czech Republic, where she works as a writer and copyeditor. She is the founder and former editor-in-chief of The Literary Bohemian. Her poems have appeared in Orbis, Poetry Salzburg, Rhino, Sand, and The Stony Thursday Book, and often explore place, movement, and the practical realities of making a life abroad.
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04/16 / Poetry Reading and Conversation with visiting poet-in-residence Joan Kwon Glass & local poet Clayre Benzadón / The BBar at The Betsy-South Beach, Miami Beach, FL / Live and Live-Streamed on Instagram Live/Facebook Live at @swwimmiami / 7-8:30 pm EST / Free
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Funny, I have an egret in one of my poems that I also refer to as an exclamation mark!