Seasonal flooding of the callows creates a haven
in the wetlands for plants—reindeer moss,
bog moss, long-leaved sundew, sweet vernal-grass,
star sedge, marsh horsetail, ribwort plantain.
Yellow, white, purple and pink flowers flourish—
meadow buttercup, lady’s bedstraw, hare’s tail,
marsh pea, ragged-robin, quaking-grass.
Heather to feed animals, roof houses, insulate walls.
Knee deep in black mud and bog cotton,
turf cutters find fossilized tree stumps
below the surface, remains of pine trees
from when the land was dry.
Sphagnum peat, fen peat, bog iron deposits,
marl for fertilizer—trembling peat bog,
cool, wet and dangerous,
destroyer and provider.
Poem and Photograph by Meg Freer
Meg Freer teaches piano and writes poetry in Ontario. Her photos, short prose and poems have appeared in various North American anthologies and journals, and she has written two chapbooks of poems. She holds a Graduate Certificate in Creative Writing with Distinction from Toronto’s Humber School of Writers.
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