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
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