poem /alicia elkort

I have dreamed of this mountain for many years—

now it appears

before me

rising to a creek,

the gentling

of water & orange

butterflies that whiten

flowers with grace.

Like lace, the air is thick.

When my hands bloom,

aspens shimmer

against gray rock & spruce,

where I have climbed

over lightning-felled logs

to reach an overlook.

A soft wind

arrives from a snowy peak.

Clouds threaten overhead

Please rain I think,

& climb higher

aware that I have no jacket.

I want to get wet.

I want to expand with precipitation.

The dog killed a deer mouse

that dangles from her mouth.

Drop it I say.

My, how life is a metaphor.

I drop it all. Everything,

& let my cheek take the caress—

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Alicia Elkort (she/her) has been nominated thrice for the Pushcart, twice for Best of the Net and once for the Orisons Anthology. Her first book of poetry, A Map of Every Undoing, was published in the fall of 2022 by Stillhouse Press with George Mason University, and she has been published in numerous journals and anthologies. She reads for Tinderbox Poetry Journal and works as a Life Coach and as an editor with Shiversong LLC. Alicia lives in the gorgeous light of Santa Fe, NM. For more info or to watch her two video poems: http://aliciaelkort.mystrikingly.com/