promise
a trail’s upslope beckons
along young
berried shoots.
there is a flounce
on early saplings,
their rainsoaked limbs.
scrambling between brush,
older trees loom,
witchhazel, burdock,
the surprise
of a lady’s slipper.
under wedged pineboards
in an miner’s cabin
wild ideas bloom,
an unseen America
cracking at mud.