Dreams of a Portland Watershed

Dreams of a Portland Watershed

Dreams of a Portland Watershed by Sam Olson Dreams of a Portland Watershed Through gullies we made a wilderness of, Arnold Creek raised us with its thickets. There were gutted, flipped-over cars. Mildew-coated homes abandoned mid-build. Fern-roofed sheds spilling...
Curiosity the Cat Killed

Curiosity the Cat Killed

Curiosity Killed the Cat by Kaz Hatch Curiosity the Cat Killed Not the early fall’s field mice,snitching through tallow grass tall and crisping, Not a sparrow or a swallow or a red-striped snake,unwound and left limp on the doorstep, No grasshopper that zipped into...
The Shepherd

The Shepherd

The Shepherd by Rob Magnuson Smith The Shepherd Nobody could understand why people who got married kept dying. Their causes of death varied—accidental burns, steep falls, unbreakable fevers. Some claimed it was punishment for indifference. Others argued that vows over...
Bobcat

Bobcat

Bobcat by Allison Collins Photo by Lori Ayre Bobcat In summer, my husband saw a mother bobcattrit-trot across the bridge up the road,trailing three cubs.Like me, I thought. He’d warned the men working there,orange-vested and steel-toed, to be wary.Warned, too, the...
Emergence

Emergence

Emergence by Henry Hughes Photo by Henry Hughes Emergence         Ankeny Wildlife Refuge The Rail Trail’s shotgunned sign, squashed masks, and slick boardwalk are engagements of neglectthat don’t faze the song sparrow, the wrenriding out winter among the purple leaves...