Poems by Joan Hofmann
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Here a Vernal Pool Reflects
by Joan Hofmann
From Canary Spring 2022
Joan grew up knowing the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers of Pennsylvania. She now spends time hiking and walking along the Farmington River and on hills and trails in Connecticut where she lives in love with the seasons, flora and fauna of New England and the Atlantic coast.
In concert with other pools, it
renders the forest floor into
abundance, thrilled in moss.
Framed by lichen-rich trees,
straight trunks reach skyward while
windswept, downed kin lie askew.
Carpeted in spring greenness,
ephemeral shallows here today
may disappear tomorrow.
These are but temporary depressions,
vessels without visible ingress or
egress, seasonal ponds flooding up.
Enough for amphibian attraction:
spotted salamanders, shrimp nymphs,
wood frogs, among the lovers of elusive.
To this place I walk miles each day
to be among the still pools. Holding my
breath at the outcrop to scan landscape:
Who is still here? Which of you has
departed? Which wanes into another
form of itself, passes to vanished?
© Joan Hofmann