The Sunday Poet: Llyn Clague

  Llyn Clague's  poems have been published widely, including in Atlanta Review, Wisconsin Review, California Quarterly, Main Street Rag, The Avalon Literary Review, Ibbetson Street, Hiram Poetry Review, and other print and online magazines. His seventh book, Hard-Edged and Childlike, was published by Main Street Rag in 2014. Visit www.llynclague.com.

Kayakers

A pair of kayakers, rhythmic and silent,

slide by, graceful and smooth as ducks

directly below my perch on a bench

on a boulder at the edge of the lake.

In irregular arcs and eights

the birds glide, go suddenly topsy-

turvy; with small splashes pop

up, smugly smacking their lips.

High on the upstroke, paddle tips

shoot sparks, drip last tears

back into mother lake; drop and slip

under, propelling their riders.

In passing, the man and the woman,

raising fingertips high in the air,

give me companionable waves,

noiseless ripples in their wake.