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swamp poetry

River Bottom Utopia
Doug Hiser

Gators sprawl across cypress roots
Olive, gray green thick ripples, jade milk
Trinity River bottom
Moss grows like ancient hermit’s beards

Antediluvian prehistoric leviathan guardians
Stand like sentinels thrusting up from the muck
An army of heavy eternal trees
Guarding the twisted maze of life
The primordial East Texas swamp

Spotted gar glide along the surface like quiet torpedoes
Pileated woodpeckers hammer heavy beaks
Roseate spoonbills flash fancy bright showgirl plumage
Dinosaurs slumber like the breath of ghosts
And I barely breathe in the solitude

This is the place I travel
This is the place to become still
This is my place
This is utopia

Gators wallow like lazy feral hogs
In gooey mud green murk
Trinity River bottom
I wander… my beard hanging heavily like moss
And I breathe in the solitude.

This is my utopia.