Luce Line
Laura Rockhold
if we decided on this path, it was unspoken
walking the Luce Line trail, once railroad
now miles edged by aspen, sumac, indoor months
breathing each other’s air has us
silently united
maybe we needed to feel
our feet against the gravel, be in the company
of meadow grass blowing onward
as the winding creek, hear its trickle
tapping lightly
to imagine the rains
on the rusted roof near the chopping stump
and what is growing, if anything
in the old greenhouse, panes tinged a
hazy heaven
to enter the forest’s refuge
mourn the passing of lives
untold, translucent
ghost pipe, scarlet cup, crown of
yellow-shafted flicker
to see sunlight play
dance on earth with shadows
leaves gesturing an invitation to listen, see
chickens roaming wild, rudbeckia
echinacea, daisy
Laura Rockhold is a poet, visual artist and inventor of the golden root poetic form. She is a recipient of the Bring Back The Prairies Award, Southern MN Poets Society Award, and several International Academy of Visual Arts and Hermes Creative Awards. Her poetry will be exhibited at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (2024-2025) and her work is published in: Birdcoat Quarterly, Cider Press Review, Scarlet: A Literary Journal, The Ekphrastic Review, The Fourth River, The Hopper, Waxwing and elsewhere. www.laurarockhold.com