by KAREN DEGROOT CARTER
And each day, glimpses of a town’s
holy heart amid ceaseless exchanges:
a fishing village turned desired destination.
Currents of routines set on weathered wood
and shifting sands, the everyday resonant
with ancient inflections.
A family fishes on a moonlit pier
while its children minnow through the warm
water, words, air all around them.
A baby smiles from her mother’s hip
while teen boys, tense with promise,
maneuver past.
And everywhere, a kaleidoscope of tranquility
and want; of barefoot labor and burnt winches;
of charity tabled among puddles and piles
as women weave their way through the never-ending
need ― then join neighbors outside St. Pedro’s,
Sunday best amid the incense of barbecue.
–
A native of Syracuse, New York, and a graduate of Syracuse University, Karen DeGroot Carter lives in Denver. Her first novel, One Sister’s Song, is in print with Pearl Street Publishing of Denver, and her fiction, poetry, and nonfiction have appeared in BigCityLit, Interim, Publishers Weekly, and elsewhere.
© Karen DeGroot Carter
Halfway Down the Stairs 