Poems by Pepper Trail
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Last Night’s Snow
by Pepper Trail
Pepper lives in the eastern foothills of Oregon's ancient Siskiyou Mountains, near their complex entanglement with the youthful, volcanic Cascades. He loves both mountain ranges equally.
A thin fall, fine as sand
this scroll on which is written
all that I missed, sleeping
A coyote, tracks threading
the edge of the frozen lake
up toward the ridge –
hunger, visible
Quick brushstrokes of bird feet
likely this scolding sparrow
short, stony chips
his song a secret
for yet more frozen weeks
Last, rabbit
loping 4-dots in the snow
lucky rolls of the dice
crossing after the coyote
headed home with the news –
still alive.
© Pepper Trail
Ode to the Aspen
by Pepper Trail
From Canary Fall 2024
All summer
your leaves
are turbines
spinning sun
into sugar
feeding
the multitude
that you are
sharing
through your roots
everything
Your silver trunks
shelter together
their scars
concealing nothing
of your history
legible record
of your trembling
October now
the yellow
traveling down
your veins
dividing
the green
shutting down
the working time
tuning all
to the pure note
of praise
In the cold wind
in the days
remaining
you will
shivering
sing hallelujah
Offering
to the blue sky
one by one
the treasures
of the year
let go, gold
© Pepper Trail