by Elaine Reardon
Billy Collins takes me for a ride
I’ve gone there before many times
it’s an easy ride and I think I know the way
But he makes a turn
takes a detour and then
he drives into a small pond
a pond I’ve never noticed before
I wonder is he trying to kill us
amazingly the car floats
He hops out onto the damp soil
announces that we have arrived
This poem was originally published in the author’s chapbook, The Heart is a Nursery for Hope, 2016, Flutter Press.
Elaine Reardon is a poet, herbalist, educator, and member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators. Her chapbook The Heart is a Nursery For Hope won first honors from Flutter Press. She won the Beal Poetry Prize (November 2018), and was shortlisted at the Hammond House Poetry contest. Most recently, Elaine’s poetry has been published by Crossways Journal, Automatic Pilot, Sleep-Z Journal, and several anthologies. Her website is elainereardon.wordpress.com.
Jeffrey C. Dickler, a native of Brooklyn, New York, was transplanted to the Midwest after his formative years. His love of the outdoors grew from summers at his grandfather’s Camp Iroquois on Frost Pond in Jaffrey, New Hampshire. By age four he already had hiked to the peak of Mount Monadnock. Later family trips to the American Southwest and National Parks cemented his love of exploring nature with a pack on his back and camera in hand. In 2017 he retired to the Monadnock region. He lives with his wife, Deni, and their four-legged companion, Willy Waggins, in Rindge, New Hampshire.
Smoky Quartz 