Soon, a Poem by KB Ballentine

     golden shovel from Jane Kenyon’s “Song”

Canada geese will shout their return over the

river. Days longer, lighter bringing joy

to Round Bald, to mountains shadowed. Mist that

would hold us to winter’s core trembles

with shifting molecules. My focus alters under

crowns of buds celebrating every

breath of warm wind. What to do with each leaf

tainted, bruised by crackle and

crunch? Keep all of it in praise on lips and tongue.

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KB Ballentine’s latest collection is All the Way Through (2024, Sheila-Na-Gig Inc.). She has eight previous poetry collections with Blue Light Press, Iris Press, Middle Creek Publishing, and Celtic Cat Publishing. Published in North Dakota Quarterly, Atlanta Review and Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal, and others, her work also appears in anthologies including Women Speak (2024) and The Strategic Poet (2021). Learn more at www.kbballentine.com.