Steve Deutsch
Steve Deutsch has been widely published both on line and in print. Steve was nominated three times for the Pushcart Prize. He is poetry editor for Centered Magazine. His Chapbook, Perhaps You Can, was published in 2019 by Kelsay Press. His full length book, Persistence of Memory was published in 2020 by Kelsay. Steve’s third book of poetry, Going, Going, Gone, was published in November 2021.
Ridge
August rains
have left the ground
green and boggy.
This evening
a cool mist rises
to hug the ridge
like filings
in a force field.
Wouldn’t you like
to hold someone
so easily?
Nature is unaware
of its beauty—
tricks of light
and season
leave it
unperturbed.
The ridge
and I are old
companions—
a singular feature,
it dominates
my view from any
vantage.
I often wonder
about the view
from the ridge,
but citybred,
I am too tied
to pavement
to try the climb.
Yet, I imagine myself
among the explorers
of an earlier age.
Leather-clad
and booted
we work our way
inland from a Susquehanna
landing—muskets
against lion and bear,
we muscle our way
to the ridge-top
and find a valley
so inviting
we envision a settlement
right here—
here
where I sit rocking.
Sheila-Na-Gig online 