top of page

C.N.P Poetry 

Question

  • Writer: Cathexis Northwest Press
    Cathexis Northwest Press
  • Jul 1, 2022
  • 1 min read

By: Julie Nelson







Walking my dog at lunchtime

in rain,

suddenly

from between two houses, a row

of mallards marched

across a neighbor’s lawn

single file—twelve

in all—following

the leader,

and stepped off the curb

on to a puddled street

on a mission

as my Lab sat down in the grass

to watch, her birding instincts

tempered by a steady shower

as she looked on with intention,

her whole being

invested in the procession,

her face alert, attentive even,

to what might happen

next.


She never barked. She struck

Buddha pose and stayed

completely still, her eyes

brown ponds for ducks

to splash

down in warm pools

of light

as they crossed

to safety,

unharmed.


And here was the answer

to a question I’ve been asking,


how to be kind

in an uncertain world.





 

Julie R. Nelson is a poet and creative writer who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Her poems and stories have appeared in Cathexis Northwest Press, Critical Reads, Passenger, Passager, and East by Northeast. She is currently working on several short stories and a collection of poems.

Recent Posts

See All
3 Poems

By: Elder Gideon how mom’d rant at the evening news more menacing than Gorbachev’s mark of the beast or looming mushroom skull fire were...

 
 
 
FLOODING BASEMENTS

By: Samantha Wright There was a storm in the night, and the limbs were heavy, and the branches fell down. and all the basement floors...

 
 
 

Comments


bottom of page