Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver

Ken Gierke’s new poetry collection, Heron Spirit, is a

conversation with the natural world. The poems take us

from playing in leaves to lines that paddle in unison with the

waves of metaphors, the lines that stretch into the endless

horizon of an endless river. Nature holds bold, tall titans,

sentinel eagles, and a graceful heron that transforms into the

Maid of the Mist. Gierke’s poems observe and reflect “in

true silence”. Maneuvering in the waters teaches us how to

solve problems and gain new perspectives. The poems fill the

silence not just between each paddle but between bird calls.

That is, the poems breathe with the flow of the river and bird

songs. Through stunning imagery and use of meter, Gierke

shows us that the forces of nature are the true constant for

our future generations and “beckon us all” to enter the sacred

realm of the heron spirit. Enjoy this poem from the collection.

Combing for Words
 
A school of fish
flash as they leap
in the rays of the morning sun
cresting the lake’s horizon.
 
Waves crash on the shore,
and Toronto, thirty miles distant,
seems to rise from the water
into a midday sky, black and brooding.
 
Water, sand, and gravel wash
through my fingers, and beach glass
glints like the sun’s last rays
that frame the silhouettes of sails.
 
Hours on a rocky shore,
combing for glass
once broken, now
weathered by waves.
 
Filtered, like my thoughts.
At day’s end,
a handful of words.
Poetry.