Self-Portrait On A Walk Beside The Sunrise
skin tightens pulled awake by the strings
of dew-dazzling wind wisps
cheeks puff like mallard’s feathered
throats – green-deep-startled
leaves cling to stones in swerving-water
brooks – my worries lifting lusty to join the vitality
movement forward on slippery wood & thoughts
imprinting on thick-tufted grass centuries woven
into the earth
this silence geese-gaggle-broken the perfect
reflection of my blood song
I let the words go because that is what
the morning sun requires of me
& the moon – waning wise taps my shoulder
with her smile
this blue-sky portrait of beginning – a self
to re-remember
VANESSA SHIELDS, writer 