Sun rays pass through trees
Barren bushes warmed,twitching
Flocks of sparrows hidden
Snow a’skift on branches
Red berries frozen to ash limbs
Cedar waxwings feast
Brown-bodied squirrels
Scurry up poplars to nest
Safe from eagle talons
Atop a bat box
Heron eyes the pond below
Fish scales shimmering
Plowing through shallows
A cutthroat’s dorsal fin swirls
Hours from death’s embrace
Sliding up wet banks
Swifting back into water
Wet mink fur silvers
Crawfish nestle in mud
Huddles of legs and claws
Waking at sunset
Margaret Koger
Margaret Koger lives in Boise, Idaho and received her M. A. from Boise State University. Before retirement, she taught in the public schools where she specialized in creative writing and library services with a brief stint as an Artist in the Schools. Her poetry appears in numerous journals including Collective Unrest, Thimble, Inez, Headway, Burning House, Voice of Eve, Tiny Seeds Literary Journal, Forbidden Peak, Déraciné and Gravitas.