Storyboards on the Diagonal

by Melanie Choukas-Bradley


The old boards through the bog
Will be replaced
The trail crew has hauled in clean new boards, lying pathside

I will miss my old companions, weathered and rotting
With moss growing thick between them
They often land me in the murk

Yet they meld with the fern fronds lining the ancient path called the Diagonal
The parade of wildflowers passing the season baton
Trillium to goldthread to jewelweed to aster

These old boards have borne the weight of moose mothers and calves
Of bear mothers and cubs
And me on skis, their ice filled cracks deep under snow

The new bog boards will be the last I know
May I live to see them grow old and soft
With moss springing green between them
 

* * * * *

Melanie Choukas-Bradley is a naturalist and award-winning author of seven nature books, including City of Trees, A Year in Rock Creek Park, Finding Solace at Theodore Roosevelt Island and The Joy of Forest Bathing. She began writing poetry during the pandemic and had the good fortune to discover Writing in a Woman’s Voice. The site featured several of her poems during 2022, including “How to Silence a Woman,” which won the February Moon Prize. Melanie wishes Beate’s readers a joyous new year!