milwaukee river

waubedonia park in ozaukee cty is a campground along the milwaukee river. “wauabedonia” is also a fun portmanteau of waubeka and fredonia, the two towns on either side of the park. we were there leading up to the fourth.

got our tent up just before the sky opened up in a serious thunder storm, rolling rain gusts down the river, followed by mist plumes. walking in the river, fishing, just doing nothing by the fire. welcome.

highlight was a grisly scene me and my eldest stumbled upon, a frog perched atop a bloated carp corpse along the riverbank! watched him for quite a while. amphibian-king of his little death kingdom.

on that note, i’ll plug the latest collection again, b/c why not? if you enjoy these poems, supporting fernwood press (and me a little bit) by picking up the book is always deeply appreciated.

bulrushes and bul-reeds! crayfish!

on the other shore

one heron

stalking another

a calm stance atop

mangled corpse

don’t mess with this frog

a quiet morning

for crayfish

in the river bend

kratzsch preserve is a 72-acre wood and wetland lot of former farmland rehabilitated by the ozaukee and washington county land trust. they’re doing good work here people. prairie, marsh, hardwood forest, frontage on the milwaukee river, glacial topography; little bit of everything.

this was a great hike, up and down, good steady wind on the prairie but some shelter in the woods and down by the river. snow drifts gave us a workout. sat with the robins and redwing blackbirds by the river for a spell. four lunes and views for you.

snowmarsh and cattails

crows cawing—

trunk shadow and gone