City Pond

Even this far north there is no escaping the season's heat. When I walk for exercise this time of year it becomes imperative to do so early in the morning or I find it intolerable. There's a reason I live in Minnesota, especially when it comes to hot weather.

My usual walking course takes me through a wooded city park, around a lake, and past a handful of ponds. A great place to hear birds singing and frogs croaking, to visualize herons and egrets. But the increasing warmth of summer alters the composition of the smaller bodies of water. I don't know if this is problematic or simply a typical response.



City Pond


A cauldron of vichyssoise
thick with pea-green algae.
Ducks on logs preen, clean
feathers dripping with chlorophyta.
Turtle hatchlings dragging slime
slip and slide on rocks.
From a willow a kingfisher
watches the water below, flies off.
No fish? Poor visuals?

Parks and Rec unconcerned.
Should I be?



Marilyn Aschoff Mellor