Walk Poem

Two scooters stroll

Three bird nests exposed

On barren tree branches

A warm March Sunday

Leaves bus benches abandoned

As the nearby prickly cactus

Little sprouts of green

Amid curly dried leaves

Traction gravel still remains

Pizza delivery returns for another

RTD schedule discarded

Next to “Vote for Nash”

Two boys skipping rocks

Pine cones squirrel scattered

Prairie dogs chirp their warning

Which way to go

Highline canal or Tollgate Creek Trail -say that fast

Murky pond and stagnant pools

Tall dried thistles and brushes

Looking like loaded pincushions

One trailside manicured and clean

The other wild and littered

A choir of birdsong on the breeze

Race to be first to greet

The skaters and joggers

Cyclists and walkers

An elder pedals a bike

That’s older than he is

They don’t make them as they once did

Little boy rolls down the hill

Older sister chasing after on foot

He stands up to declare “TA-DA”

Big sister on his heels

Grabs at his shirt collar

Insisting “you get back here you”

Daddy and four little ones

With puppy leading the way

Leash law enforced

About face, return trip

Into the wind many odors adrift

A new chill awakens my senses

A big jet soars overhead

As odors of stagnant pools and

Exhaust fumes toxify my nose

Among tall barren sticks of nettle

Dual warnings signs declared

Marking buried petroleum pipelines

Patchwork concrete trusses

Wear the tagger’s artwork

Or is it their obscenities

Daddy, four littles and puppy revisited

Asked what interesting things they saw

Reported that their shoes walked funny

Many bicyclists and joggers

Some skateboarders and walkers

But only two electric scooter drivers

A roll can be as nice as a walk

IF you learn to appreciate

Even the tiniest of pleasures

by Lori Emmons