Milwaukee poet

state natural area poems #51: clover valley fen

/ jriyeff / Leave a comment

clover valley fen contains a series of 8-10 ft high peat mounds that began building around a set of springs 11,500 years ago(!). sedge meadow and woods surround the fen mounds, and whitewater creek runs thru it all. the iced-over wetland was a maze of frozen tussocks, some a foot over the ice. the fen mounds were spectacular, with spring water still visibly running off below the ice.

a.

i stand on 11,000-

year-old peat, massive—

morning sun casts long shadow

b.

bryophytes make a frozen home

on patchwork of tawny fen

the springs give them life

c.

stilting our way

over calcium-rich waters

deer have set blazes

state natural areas #50: bluff creek

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bluff creek is fed by hardwater springs and seepages from a morainal ridge. the surroundings contain mound fens, dry-mesic woods, wet-mesic prairie, and sedge meadow. it’s a watery and grassy melange! one of the season’s first sticking snowfalls decorated the terrain for the morning’s hike.

a.

wild thrushes over the spring run

and snow-capped goldenrod bowing

the fen-world opens its cold, wet arms

b.

waxwings in the birch grove, a crest

flexes and relaxes—to the branch,

buckthorn berry in beak

thanks to wisconsin’s dnr for tending this land and its many water features.

state natural area poems #49: carver-roehl woods

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carver-roehl woods is a dry mesic wood with limestone cliffs cut by spring brook creek. (this spring brook feeds into turtle creek and is not to be confused with the spring brook that feeds into the rock river directly in janesville.) the cliffs support less common plant communities, while the woods have mature oaks, hop hornbeam, ash, and ironwood, with red and white pine on the high ridge above the eastern bank’s cliffs. the site lies on ground moraine from a glaciation before the last. gorgeous.

a.

limestone cliffs before sunrise

on spring brook not of my youth

skirting along the ridge

b.

a log bridge to this rock seat:

red cedar, white oak,

the creek playing mason

state natural area poems #48: newark road prairie

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newark road prairie is a wet-mesic prairie remnant of the old pre-settlement rock prairie on the southern edge of rock county. over a hundred prairie species have been id’d here, with different habitat zones surrounding a sedge meadow. a winter walk in a wet prairie at sunset is something else.

a.

geese cut the purpling sky

the flowers pulpy stems

below a waxing gibbous moon

b.

bipeds on the ice

amid cattails—

not human habitat

and here’s a picture of the author/photographer doing his thing—why not?

state natural area poems #47: avon bottoms

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avon bottoms is a flat floodplain of the sugar river with a maple-oak forest. many southern-ranging species of plants find the northern edge of their range in the woods. swenson wet prairie s.n.a. is now part of avon bottoms as well.

a.

the floodplain is laced

with marbled ice

beneath an early moon

b.

golden hue of big stem

below the swooping ash—

families play in the bottom

c.

the sugar river ambles on

past fragrant bottomland

extremities grow cold

d.

the dead-grass tapestry

of winter wetlands

is widely undervalued

state natural area poems #46: swenson wet prairie

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swenson wet prairie is now a part of the avon bottoms s.n.a. but it was established as its own site, so i’m counting it. it’s a wet prairie in the floodplain of the sugar river near where the river meets taylor creek. there’s also a sedge meadow and river bottom savanna(!), and a number of oxbows. its frozen state this december is gorgeous.

a.

open water

below swamp oaks

is sheer grace

b.

a blue bird sits

over frozen duckweed—

graceful arcs

state natural area poems #45: magnolia bluff

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magnolia bluff is the second highest point in rock county, in the county’s western uplands area. the undisturbed cliff-side reveals the two primary forms of bedrock in the county: st. peter sandstone and dolomite limestone. the western ridge also harbors a population of the endangered plant, kitten tails(!).

a.

here limestone and sandstone meet,

bare themselves for all

naked to the eye and light

b.

standing on the place-rock

the winter sun sets

we are mammals seeking warmth

state natural area poems, supplementum anthropocenum #5: junction of hwy 51 and hurd road (b/t janesville and edgerton, wi)

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from paleozoic seabed to chisel and hammer

hewn sandstone grains, frosted, become

a wayside. wild carrot patrons now

this little building on the highway between janesville and edgerton in wisconsin is said to be an old tavern. an ancestor who lived west of here is rumored to have had a few too many in the old establishment one night before going off down hurd road and throwing ties on a track to derail train no. 143 from madison to chicago. the latter part is not rumor but documented. the record says no one was hurt, but he did some time.

the sandstone structure is beyond dilapidation now.

state natural area poems #44: kessler railroad prairie

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a.

down the power-line corridor

blue-stem, sleeping blazing-star—

jumping mouse gotta jump

b.

along the creek, old friends:

warm metamorphic stone

below box-elder canopy

c.

sun-shower on bass creek

peninsula, sand and loam

the stream’s great gift

kessler railroad prairie is just what it sounds like. an old rail line was ripped up and prairie restored out between hanover and afton in rock county. it’s a fun 13-acre strip of land along massive power lines, and how great that the corridor was made back into a place that could shelter so many species of native plants, rodents, and voles. bass creek runs thru. a welcome, windy visit to the grasslands this afternoon.

state natural area poems #43: fair meadows

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a.

winter sun glints

off marsh-ice below savanna

humble light for the world

b.

the hills swell and keel, breaking

for kettle hummocks. lone

hickory leaf tumbles down the incline

c.

the scent of scorched earth,

shock of tree-fall—

nuthatches keeping alive

fair meadows is a delightful patch of land with savanna, wet prairie, shrub-carr, and marsh communities. the land is well tended, especially with an eye toward increasing an endangered plant’s population. a fabulous walk, complete with getting “marshed” in ankle-deep water—completely worth it!

a special ‘thank you’ to the private owners of this sna for welcoming us onto their earthy treasure.