“Mystery ailment killing ducks at Virginia Lake”
— Reno Gazette-Journal, July 25, 1986
The summer our household came apart
I rose each day at dawn to walk a path
in dust on the heart-shaped shore of
a desert lake, one foot before the other
In a bid for survival against a backdrop
of dying wildlife: a contagion had swept
the lake leaving its flocks of waterfowl
rigid in the water and slowly sinking
Into the whirlpool of weeks that
I kept watch from the footpath
staying one step ahead of a loss
I felt might also pull me under.
Had I advised the stricken birds from
the safety of shore, I’d have told them:
Above all else, keep moving—away from
grief, let your headwinds lift you up.
Richard N. Mott is a late arrival to writing poetry, having spent a career in wildlife conservation and climate advocacy. His work has appeared in After the Pause, Mudfish, and Chiron Review.
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