River Birds by Ken Wheatcroft-Pardue

The taut turn of river birds through the thick summer air.
White-winged axes gliding above the eddies.
The river low here.

For a brief instant, my eyes spot a silver rippling radiance,
and then, as if I hadn't seen it,
thought the trip dull.

The river, a meandering ditch.
Our world's default setting of never-surprised, jaded ennui.
But it was beautiful for an instant –

fully full of that thing – beauty –
as were my eyes – heart and soul,
if such be real.



Ken Wheatcroft-Pardue is a retired high school English and ESL teacher living in beautiful Fort Worth, Texas. He has had poems published in Concho River Review, The Texas Observer, Borderlands, California Quarterly, Book of Matches Literary Review, and two anthologies of Texas poetry.