Tim Moder, Northern Wisconsin, USA
What calls the painted turtle calls me. I watch her
nose into the slow road, over hogbacks
on the Lake Ameek trail. I see her drag her lethargic shell
to soft sand where she buries three eggs.
Later that day two giant snapping turtles
with angry eyes approach me without hesitation,
stiff necks taut in a slow motion charge.
They are covered in dusty green tiles.
Two False Map Turtles follow ancient paths,
their backs a living globe, wet with scent and slime,
they take all day to move back and forth
across the unmarked way.
I may find a hazelnut bush if the logging trucks
missed any, having grated both the sides
and the surface of this remote country road
in the course of their relentless trek across this land.
Tim Moder is an Indigenous poet living in northern Wisconsin, USA. He is a member of Lake Superior Writers. His poems have appeared in a few publications, including Pittsburgh Poetry Journal, South Florida Poetry Journal and Penumbra Online.
