Conservation Trust for North Carolina

On May 4th I attended the annual CTNC picnic outside Hillsborough.
After our lunch, I read a few poems to the group and answered some questions about wolves, poetry, and how important language, especially the names of cherished places, is to conservation.

Please consider joining the Conservation Trust; you'll be helping our state preserve its natural resources.

Here is one of the poems I read after lunch. It first appeared in Storysouth.com.

Nightfishing

I bait my lines
with the scent of old planks
rotting over the muddy Flint
River where drowsy snakes
coil in the rushes and lightning
bugs fizzle like spirits
of nightcrawlers nibbled
by minnows. No catch
in my throat but this aching
to wade into lazy black water
and stand all night long
in its leavetaking, calling
the fish home to Mama.