Poems by Kenneth Chamlee
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Day Tour
by Kenneth Chamlee
From Canary Spring 2022
Ken lives at the edge of the southern Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, N.C., in the Boylston Creek watershed and is often found in Pisgah National Forest. He finds comfort in campfires, photography, and landscape art.
Geese fly over, honking their klaxons
like a caravan of Model T’s, then drop and rally
in the neighbor’s pond, raucous and flapping.
A few step out on the weedy bank
to browse and haggle like it’s market day
at every pond and field and stubble-yard,
but most circle like a motor club cruising
a town square, proud owners in black
chauffeur’s caps and white scarves.
Soon all lift into a skein of order and gabble,
wheeling a smooth county circuit
over old roads mapped in their heads.
© Kenneth Chamlee