blackberries abound, and draw the bears away
a week and a half after the Solstice
July enters its times,
and the bears no longer visit our neighborhood,
close by the steepening woods
of the national park they call home,
we hike up out of this valley to the ridge
that marks where this watershed slips into another,
most of the hike through blow-downs and new growth brambles,
thorns abound on the new trees and eager plants,
poison ivy tries to meet itself and block the trail,
blackberry vines seem to be everywhere,
many burdened with beckoning fruit,
ready to share with those who are hungry,
bears are always hungry,
and my guess is that the bears
have their fill these days on blackberries,
maybe six weeks from now,
when even the higher blackberries are done,
acorns and nuts will entice the hungry bears
to include our neighborhood, again, in their foraging,
the Great Fire of late November 2016,
transformed the word up here with devastating change,
I mourn the trees lost to the Fire and to an insect,
I am impressed with nature’s aggressive reforesting,
our hikes can be hard and thorny to the skin,
the bears, though, must be thankful for the berries
which the reforesting also gives to any
who can find and appreciate them.
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