Elk
Last night
crossed the road
as they have done
each year since I moved
to this mountain retreat
Elk
Left hoof prints
on the muddy trail
last night
cows called to their calves
in high pitched squeals
Elk
Crossed the road
last night, a portent
of an early winter
left hoof prints
on the muddy trail
Elk
Have returned
each year since I moved
to this mountain retreat
cross the road
leave hoof prints
Elk
Crossed the road
last night
migrating up the mountain
cows called to their calves
in high pitched squeals
Now I know the herd is safe.
Poem by Louise Moises
LOUISE MOISES, a graduate of San Jose State, was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area where she still resides. Over her seventy-seven years she has been a teacher, a storyteller, a puppeteer, a retail clerk, and the owner of an antiquarian bookstore, along with being a wife, mother and grandmother. Now widowed, she enjoys traveling with her cat in her 23 foot RV, exploring out-of- the way places that inspire her writing. Her poems and stories have received awards from the Ina Coolbrith Circle, the Artists Embassy International, Soul Making-Keats, and been published in a number of online venues and printed anthologies including High Shelf Press, A Gathering, Sunkissed, California Quarterly, the Write Launch, Ariel, Pinole Writers Group, Frost Meadow among others. .