The River
The clear stream carried the morning sunlight to the bend
where it disappeared. I waded in and cast my line
to the shallows of the opposite bank, hoping to hook Walleye or Bass.
After an hour or two of casting and reeling, catching nothing but time,
I was ready to close my tackle box and call it a day,
when, from out of nowhere, a dragonfly landed on the tip of my rod.
Perched in a six-legged grip, it was a blue bloom at the end of a long stem.
The wings, glinting in sun, translucent, thin as a whisper, did not move,
resembling a biplane grounded. Its eyes looked like dark observatories.
Then, as quick as a blue-tipped match stuck to life,
the dragonfly lifted, hovering for a moment,
before disappearing into light, leaving me standing there,
the first catch of the day, shimmering in water.
Desert Menagerie
Hummingbirds are created when you blow out the flame
of a blue-headed match.
Blue jays come to life after a jazz saxophone riffs a solo.
Grackles are black bishops that have risen
from chess boards and flown away.
Tarantulas are born from the char of piñon trees
struck by lightning.
Lizards are desert hailstones that have melted and merged with sand.
A photographer left rolls of negatives in a dilating solution
and never returned to his house; after decades,
they developed into skunks.
Ravens took shape when the first question was asked.
Scorpions are made from rapiers clashing.
Bears and bees have the same mother, the honeyed sounds
of children laughing.
Some spiders enter existence when an asterisk is written,
others from shooting stars.
Coyotes are court jesters made by moonlight.
Any time there is a traffic jam, horned toads come into being.
Before there were petroglyphs, there were no foxes.
Hawks hatch from shafts of heat whenever ships unfurl their sails,
as sailors strike blue-headed matches to light their lanterns.
Keith Polette has returned to writing poetry after spending years in prose, and has been fortunate to have had his poetry published in both print and online journals. He currently lives and writes in El Paso, Texas.