a poem in my pocket

dense tropical jungle hangs heavy
above our dugout canoe as we glide
stealthily on midnight blue waters
mottled with red glow of fluorescent
fish feeding along the muddy banks

our guide shines white flashlight
on canopy of trees that reflect neon
green and yellow back at wide eyes
straining to see into velvet black night

we hear coos, chirps, howls, screams
alongside and above us; both in far
distance beyond coffeed trunks, now
too close…beware a jaguar’s pounce!

______________

Melissa hosts at dVerse poets today. This poem was my first impression of Emil Nolde’s painting. After reading this article about the German expressionist artist also being a Nazi supporter, I wonder if he painted a river/path of blood? This was painted before his joining the “socialist” party but perhaps the violence is within us, waiting to come out…we cannot separate our art from who we truly are.