As liquid verdigris or, shaded,
Flowing onyx, the river
Knots, spinning loose
Denticles of fresh cold, catching
A willow branch in a current circlet
Where an ouzel stretches and folds
Mimicking electric spray.
Along both shores, ruby Mimulus
Sparks, Coneflower radiates.
Aspens spill higher, their trunks
blue pearl on this Elbow Fork
of Millcreek Canyon in the holy
Wasatch Mountains. Derived from heaven,
From soil, glaciation,
Geologic time, the impress of
Our One Mother is genius
River birch and tanager—
Yellow-splashed, garnet-crowned.
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Cara Chamberlain's poems have been published in such journals as Boston Review, Tar River Poetry, Virginia Quarterly Review, Passages North, and The Southern Review, and in Hidden Things, a collection of poetry. "River of Light" was published in her 2015 collection The Divine Botany. Cara Chamberlain lives in Billings, Montana.