Scott's Creek Camp, August 8

I’ve searched backcountry ridges,
studied tides along rainy shores,
worn out two sets of black cushions
sitting zazen.
Still, only glimpses
of Cold Mountain, unless
this is it—here,
on this spruce-edged beach
along a tannin creek,
with this dark woman
and her two kids.









David Stallings was born in the U.S. South, raised in Alaska and Colorado before settling in the Pacific Northwest. Once an academic geographer, he has long worked to promote public transportation in the Puget Sound area. His poems have appeared in several North American and U.K. literary journals and anthologies, and in Resurrection Bay, a recent chapbook.