Arroyo Piño 

                   for Kyran

 

Hiking up the arroyo, we stop often to gaze

down at the yolk-yellow ribbon of cottonwoods

lacing the Bosque. We have never been young

together so we go deliberately, yearnings

tempered by years and experience.

 

We pause near a cholla cactus, yielding

to its scarlet blossoms and besotted

bees. You pull me me toward you, kiss

me deeply. The piñons blush. We return

to the uphill trail, following scent of

yarrow and yammering of jays.

 

 

 

 

Jeanetta Calhoun Mish is a poet, writer and literary scholar. Mish has recently published poetry in The Fiddleback, This Land, Naugatuck River Review, Concho River Review, LABOR: Studies in Working Class History of the Americas, San Pedro River Review, Blast Furnace, and ProtestPoems.org, among others. As a contributing editor, Mish regularly writes essays for Oklahoma Today; she is also a contributing editor for Sugar Mule: A Literary Journal and editor of award-winning Mongrel Empire Press. Dr. Mish is the Director of The Red Earth Creative Writing MFA program at Oklahoma City University where she also serves as a faculty mentor in writing pedagogy and the craft of poetry.

 

For more information, visit www.tonguetiedwoman.com.