Gathering Supper

Elaine Reardon

For tonight kale
picked at dusk sprinkled
with pine needles

A little miso and wine
spill into the roasted squash
all of us a little tipsy

Outdoors next to the stream
shiitake laden oak logs pop
like firecrackers now until frost

From the forest
to the skillet a sizzle of
shiitaki, butter, and garlic

Life dances from seed and spore
from fallen trees at forest edge
onto our table tonight