Above Hoh Valley
Featured Image: Hoh Valley, courtesy of Olympic National Park
By Tim McNulty
“Above Hoh Valley” originally appeared in Ascendance, 2013
1.
In the late slant of mountain light,
a silver ribbon follows after itself.
River music lifts
through spruce and hemlock
a mile below.
2.
A low sea of cloud
hems the foothills
while a finger of mist
sifts past the first swells or mountain,
drifts upstream.
3.
Along a furrow
in a sandstone wall,
the slightest star-shaped flower
steals something from the southern sky.
4.
Snow trickles in a still pool;
a sheet of glass
widens across the stars.
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Tim McNulty is a poet, essayist, and nature writer based on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. He is the author of ten poetry books and eleven books of natural history. Tim has received the Washington State Book Award and the National Outdoor Book Award, among other honors.
Tim’s newest book of poems, Ascendance, is published by Pleasure Boat Studio. His natural history books include Olympic National Park: A Natural History, and Washington’s Mount Rainier National Park. His work has been translated into German, Chinese, and Japanese. Tim lives with his wife in the foothills of the Olympic Mountains. Learn more at timmcnultypoet.com.