Maple Leaf

 

maple leaf
ends bowed up port and starboard
keel laid
stem prowing
like a longship
flaming red
swimming with the dead
dropping from tree into river
navigating the heavens
and the Fall
to play with heroes
burning away downstream

***

Andrew Weatherly hears inspiration from the trees, the wind, his students, and from other poets. He is blessed to live in the hood, teach adults to read, and dance in the streets in Asheville, NC.  He’s been published in Belle Reve, Axe Factory, Former People, Danse Macabre, and Cordite and recently led a workshop at the National Association for Poetry Therapy conference.