Charles D. Tarlton
Signs of Life at the Kayak Launch
An orchid and,
where it was white now pale yellow
— in the center.
This other one's just plastic and silk,
though it stands up to roughest use,
its cold untruths in lips and fingers follow
falsely, hand over hand.
Intangibly, the push of oars against
passing water
rippling out in crescents, amplifies the distance,
as blood and nerves
hold truth in their pulsing, goodness
measured in their pressured pounds
Bio
I am a retired university teacher living at the shore in Old Saybrook, Connecticut, with my wife, Ann Knickerbocker, an abstract painter, and our black, female standard poodle, Nikki.