Settling Down by Martin Willitts Jr.

I was fishing in the stream

where the wind was brushing 

and combing the reeds —

a gull zipped through sky; 

berries were moving in wind;

the sun was emerging from a tent opening — 

there was no fear that was not my own. 

The stream was interrupted by fallen branches

after centuries of twist-turning over rocks.

There was no shelter under the trees

from noise and memory.

My heart is always restlessly disturbed.

Martin Willitts Jr is a retired Librarian. His poems appeared in Blue Fifth, Centrifugal Eye, Stone Canoe, Kentucky Review, Poppy Road Review, and many others. He has 11 full-length collections including "How to Be Silent" (FutureCycle Press, 2016) and forthcoming "Dylan Thomas and the Writer Shed" (FutureCycle Press, 2017).