Donna Hilbert

Donna Hilbert’s latest book is Threnody, from Moon Tide Press. Earlier books include Gravity: New & Selected Poems, Tebot Bach, 2018. She is a monthly contributing writer to the online journal Verse-Virtual. Work has appeared in The Los Angeles Times, Braided Way, Chiron Review, Sheila-Na-Gig, Rattle, Zocalo Public Square, One Art, and numerous anthologies. Poems have been featured on The Writer’s Almanac and on Lyric Life. She writes and leads private workshops in Southern California, where she makes her home, and during residencies at Write On Door County. Learn more at www.donnahilbert.com

Walking in Door County on Palm Sunday

I’m from L.A., so I welcome the way
drivers wave with their whole hand
in greeting, when they pass me walking
the highway leading, I’m told, to Green Bay.
I imagine they smile and say good day
on their way to the church I am walking
away from, white church with a steeple
I, bad navigator, use for my still point
to find the path back to my temporary home.
I fear the sun won’t hold.

At the bend in the road, I turn toward the steeple.
Then, I turn again and head back to the bay.
Though uphill and hard, the way home
is always faster, and I can walk it in the rain.