Steve Klepetar

A Story

I’ll tell you a story about a frog
and a snake and a tree
that grew by the river’s edge,

how that tree leapt up into light,
its branches wound through
the canopy,

how the green frog listened,
heard the tree’s roots
sucking moisture from the earth,

and it watched the little snake
emerging from a hole in the rock
and the snake danced, its bullet head

weaving patterns in the air
and the tree danced in the wind,
its branches waving and its leaves

shuddering in the dark
as the frog sang in velvet heat, of echoes
and shadows and tongues flicking in the light of stars.

Steve Klepetar has recently moved from frigid Minnesota to balmy Massachusetts, but he still has a mind of winter.