plein air poems:  Indian Pond
                                   for the Host family

1
water striders skim the surface of Indian Pond
cloudy this morning and the ghost sun
shines on the water
there are no ripples or waves
only stillness
in the distance, loons call
I never knew a silence
so full of sound
the branches whisper conversations
bird calls and insects buzz over
whisks of dragonfly wings
I hear cows from the dairy farm
down the road

when I take my last breath in this life
will I remember this peace
the pond with its shimmering, shiny reflection
of the mountains and hills around it
will I remember the illusory nature of appearances

I’ve woken from my dreams in sleep
to this daydream
where light, silence and my voice
emerge out of thin air

2

when the sun shines above the clouds
birds call, trees whisper in the breeze
the pond beckons— swim to the deep
we can do anything in this life
a dream ripens

across Indian Pond one tree turns
autumn around the corner
the sun disappears behind rain clouds
I shiver on the shore
the loons call back and forth
mothers call adolescents
born in summer
call their mates
call as they take flight
with a great flapping
of wings

humbled by how little I know
and how much this pond
has to teach me

The author sitting on a dock by Indian Pond.

michelle yasmine valladares is a poet, teacher and filmmaker.  She is the author of Nortada, the North Wind (Global City Press) and several chapbooks.  Her poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, anthologized in Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia & Beyond, (Norton), and translated into Spanish.  She was awarded “The Poet of the Year” by the Americas Poetry Festival of NY.  She produced three award-winning independent films.  Currently, she is the Director of the MFA program in creative writing at The City College of New York in Harlem.  Her website is michelleyasminevalladares.com.

Joan Hacker, Composer: With a background in experimental music, Joan Hacker uses installation performance and digital media to look at porosity—the idea that all phenomena are fluid and interdependent. Hacker has exhibited and performed at the New York Public Library, Times Square, Anthology Film Archives, Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Fridman Gallery, Experimental Intermedia Belgium, Garner Arts Center, Governor’s Island, and surreptitiously, through online advertising. Her work has been featured in publications including Vice, Art Forum, The Wire, Kerrang!, Detroit Metro Times, Bizarre, Decibel, Brooklyn Vegan, Denzatsu, Cvlt Nation, among others.