Pollen Season
July 15 2009


The pollen was thick this year,
leaving a high-water mark
ringing the shore-line rocks.
It sticks to the deck
under the overhang,
a layer of heavy yellow dust.
And still, billows from the trees
when wind is up.

The lake is rich with it,
little golden motes of light
glinting near the sun-lit surface.
It feels like swimming through soup —
a nutrient broth for grazing fish,
the warm turbid liquid
a petri-dish
of life.

By September, the lake will be cold and clear,
its flat grey surface
uninviting.
Then ice,
locked-in
camouflaged by blowing snow.

Somehow, the fish survive,
pitch-dark
freezing cold.
And spring
seems impossibly remote —
when a yellow haze
blankets everything;
and ravenous fish
will feast,
the promiscuous trees
once again
serving-up their riches.