Amateur

Pond in the Preserve (see in Gallery / Store) | Image by Bruce Harris

What seems simple rarely is

Take for example the pond in the preserve

It’s a layer of algae

a mirror of sorts reflecting nothing

Thick and reptilian

surrounded by ancient autumn grass

I stand on a plank of walkway 

cutting its soft corner

A brood of mallards hoists in the muck

still as leaves in the cold breeze

I imagine their webbed feet churning  

against the brine in their push for food

The female's head goes under

the world must seem to her

wet as it always is although 

a bit darker

I tilt my lens into the scene

ring my eye into focus

adjust for the light

and prepare to wait

But the turning of my fingers

flinches wet bodies from the murk

They rise in a spray of wings

and disappear before

the image is taken