NaPM April 11, 2017

[Tracy Mitchell]

The Wood Duck Rant

I need color I need
beauty I need
my camera

and head for the door
the truck, the woods, and
I pray, for the wood ducks -

God perfected visual beauty
On creation day one.

First thing Monday morning
fresh from the big bang,
alert, bursting with creative juice.

His eyes narrowed,
time paused then raced,
veins at the temples pulsed. . .

and there were wood ducks.
and it was good.

And when finished the Lord said
Damn - wood ducks!
Then He looked at the clock
and said, Shit, I need to pick up the pace.
And so turned to cows and mushrooms
and Lutherans.

But for me today the light isn’t right,
just gray smeared everywhere
and the Ringnecks and Merganzers
squawk like spooked lookouts in
every lake, pond, and creek-fed backwater.

I am grateful for all of God’s gifts.
But I suspect the prick has secretly shared
with the wood ducks the distance range
of my Tamron lenses.

As again, wood ducks bob in magic waters
just beyond the reach of my camera.

Feathered dreams they are
from the canvas of Matisse
or Gauguin, or their maker.