Writers’ Weir: ‘Intrusions’

Published 10:30 pm Tuesday, March 16, 2021

The trail ascends from the beach

into the forest as a carpet of cones,

thimble-size hemlock and thumb-size spruce.

Above the hush of my footfalls,

a breeze sighs in the tree tops.

I come to a man-made bridge

of squared lumber, two-byes and four-byes,

all parallel and perpendicular.

The copper-arsenic green of the lumber

blinks like neon against the muted browns

of winter and the deep green of mosses.

I am reminded that I’m just passing through.

— Richard Stokes

• The Capital City Weekly, which runs in the Juneau Empire’s Thursday editions, accepts submissions of poetry, fiction and nonfiction for Writers’ Weir. To submit a piece for consideration, email us at editor@juneauempire.com.