Rustling Reeds by Diane Allerdyce
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Image | David Dibert |
Rustling reeds at the edge of the water
teem with wildlife that is invisible
in the undergrowth—filtered with sunlight
and not all that quiet when one listens
to the negotiations, the barter
going on beneath the surface, quibble
and exchange economies of trade, bright
ambitions of amphibian glistenings.
Above the rustle, the lake’s gentle waves
may belie the complexities below,
inviting us to stop and consider
worlds otherwise unseen, those inner caves
beyond the surface so that we might know
soft rays of compassion growing nearer.
© Diane Allerdyce
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Diane Allerdyce |
Diane is a poet, professor, parent, partner, grandmother, musician, yogi, and caregiver for whom poetry is a balm for the soul. Her poems have appeared in TheGroundUp, Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, the chapbook Whatever It Is I was Giving Up and the collection of prose and poetry House of Aching Beauty.
Her story “The Gift” appeared in the North American Review (Fall 2019: 304.4): 43-50). (It was inspired, in part, by Wallace Stegner’s “Goin’ to Town”; an interview about her process appears at https://northamericanreview.org/open-space/conversation-diane-allerdyce-discusses-her-story-gift-her-partner-rory-spearing ). Diane’s short story “Kochma” appeared in Stories that Need to be Told 2022: A TulipTree Anthology; it was also first-place winner in the UK-based National Association of Writers and Groups (NAWG)’s 2022 Open Competition for Fiction and was republished with permission in their 2022 Anthology of Award-Winning Writing.
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