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Pond Dream
J. T. Ledbetter (bio)

the heron clothed in reeds stands knee-deep in the water
his shadow pricked by fish one black eye waching the rippled water
the heron is still/part bird/reeds/sunlight and shadow/
patient as space/his stiletto bill clamped to his long leathery face

frogs wake from their pebbly dreams to grunt and belch
dragonflies perform sexual pas de deux across the pond
and the beak flashes out of the reeds into the water
the arched neck uncoiling/the fish dripping pond scum
slides whole and alive down his gullet

the heron moves through the pussy willows like wind/
his thin knobby knees/ his splay feet probing the bottom/
one black eye taking in the curvature of the world
moving god-like across the face of our dreams

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