Poetry featured in The Letter Review

"The Camino" short-listed for The Letter Review Prize for Poetry

Whiterock Conservancy, Coon Rapids Iowa. Photo: Suzanna de Baca

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I had a friend who flew all the way from Chicago to Madrid    and then caught a train     and then took a bus     and then hailed a taxi     all so she could walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela    it took twenty-four hours just to get to the trail   

It was her dream    she told me    her heart still sick with grief from the death of a son    she was called to walk     to make a pilgrimage     to honor his memory    to shake herself free from the yoke of loss    from the heaviness that haunted her 

After she returned   she reported that the trail was crowded with people     shoulder to shoulder    the road strewn with garbage     and everyone  jabbering all along the way       oh my I exclaimed      was it even worth it      I was shocked to hear her say brightly     yes yes I loved every minute of it     she told me she did the short route    and talked the entire way      to all the interesting people she met     

Today I am walking on a dirt path    in the river valley by your hometown    not a soul in sight    you have been gone for four months     patches of snow cover the dried grass     frozen cow pies litter the ground like accidental cobblestones    frost hugs the leaves and branches     the morning sun glistens    beams of light reflecting the trees and sky in the running stream     

I spy a stray squirrel zipping across the meadow     flying up the side of a burr oak    chattering to no one in particular    a lone rabbit making tracks in the white snow     a blue jay perched alone on a post    singing its whisper song     a soft conglomeration of clicks     chucks     whirrs     whines     overhead a turkey vulture slowly circles something freshly dead    

Are they looking for someone too     here in the shadow of the cottonwood     here in the shimmer on the river    here in the crunch of February frost     peeking around every bend      every branch      I hear a voice in the woods      saying     camino   camino   camino    the camino is in your heart

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NOTE: I was very pleased to have “The Camino” short-listed for The Letter Review Poetry prize. This prose poem (and many others you may see in the future) as well as the photo emerged on a weekend pilgrimage to Whiterock Conservancy in Coon Rapids, Iowa. If you ever have a chance to visit Whiterock, I encourage you to check out the beauty of its various ecosystems, gorgeous at any time of year.

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