Poetry: The Ire of God

March 8, 2024 – Los Angeles: Richard Rensberry, from Michigan, is an author of over thirty books and a recipient of the 2020 AFABW Int “Outstanding Contribution as an Artist Award.”

The Ire of God

Earl’s heart
like the rabbits and deer
gets its tides from the phases
of moon. As it wanes
all is quiet in the woods
and furrows.

Out in the shed
behind double doors
you can hear Earl tinker
with his tools. By evening
he has staked his beans
and sweet green peas
to tendril their reach
for the sun.

At the onset of dusk
all the birds come
to make music
and the moon glows white
in the darkening blue June sky. Fireflies
make twinkle in the yard.

We sit with our ears
tuned to the crickets
and tree toad trill
in the white pine distance.
A wobbly-kneed fawn
bleats from the grass in the meadow….
alerting a doe
that explodes from the thicket
with the ire of God.

Behind Earl’s property
crooning howls
from a pack of coyotes
have a cadence of misery. Earl’s rifle
reports the news
they shouldn’t have come to intrude.