Early Harvest

The sun edges past clouds

gleaming like a silver dollar

and we dip our paddles

the lake reflecting

darkness of oncoming rain.

There looses a kingfisher's

mad taunt from pinetops

circling the lake.

Water pearls in our wake

the wind gusts and

our canoe darts sleek as an otter

to a rock-littered inlet

where we beach.

As we thrust sharp sticks

the dark soil yields garlic

blossoming the air

with its heavy headiness.

Strawberries hide

their insufficiency under weeds.

We carefully pick what's there

for late afternoon jam.

Gulls scream overhead

and whitecaps scatter on

the lake. The clean feather-edge

of swallows slice the turgid air.

c,1980