John R. Smith
Blue Heron
for Catherine
I was rubbing circles with my fingertips
around the small of her back
as if it were a prayer bowl
when a humming rose from inside
and a stone settled under forty years of water
floated to the surface like a flattened bubble
then skipped across the river ringing out her name
to the other side of the world
where it stepped from the current
ducked behind a tall curtain of reeds
and emerged a blue heron.
Bio
John Smith's poetry has appeared in journals such as SmartishPace, Berfrois Journal, The Literary Review, and Spillway. His work has been set to music by composer, Tina Davidson, and commissioned by New Jersey Audubon. His book of poetry is titled Even That Indigo. John lives in Frenchtown, NJ with his wife, the calligrapher and henna artist, Catherine Lent.