Two Poems by ayaz daryl nielsen

The Country Road Continues

through a nearby county
into a neighboring state
I follow it to a small lake, pause
beside an evening moon's
reflection on quiet water as
the narrow, unpaved road climbs
beyond a hill, beyond eyesight,
eventually merging with
Trails of Tears, Silk Highways,
Bridges of Birds, crossing
deer paths through forests
and raspberry thickets and
fields of ripe watermelon . . .
but I, I seem content here
behind the driver's wheel
watching reflections of moonlight
and first stars Mars and Venus
upon a small lake
in a remote corner of a large
county in a neighboring state . . .
nodding, nodding   dreaming
of a grinning hometown
elder and mentor reaching
through the window
with his butcher knife and
neatly slicing my throat
from ear to ear . . .
leaping from the car
my shadow on the moonlit water
reveals my head, intact,
still upon my shoulders . . .

moon-silvery dust upon my shoes,
covered over and replaced by another
light layer with each hesitant step

cutting through, cutting through . . .
in moon-silver shoes,
beside reflections of
moonlight, Mars and Venus,
beginning again upon the road
of Silk Highways, ripe water-
melon and migrating buffalo
beyond this small lake in
a remote corner of a large
county in a neighboring state


Message for a Shy Dryad

Speak up!
Be gentle and persuasive
they're waiting for

your words

Talk with trembling leaves

They know your voice, your
bloodlines and passions

Speak of them, your
words within

autumn winds

Speak of the restlessness
of leaves

upon trees.



ayaz daryl nielsen, husband, father, veteran, x-roughneck (as on oil rigs) and x-hospice nurse, is editor of bear creek haiku (24+ years/116+ issues), his poetry's home include Lilliput Review, Yellow Mama, Verse Wisconsin, Shamrock, High Coupe and Shemom, he has earned some cherished awards and participated in worthy anthologies -- his poetry ensembles include Concentric Penumbra's of the Heart and Tumbleweeds Still Tumbling, and, in 2013, released an anthology of poetry titled The Poet's of Bear Creek -- beloved wife/poet Judith Partin-Nielsen, assistant Frosty, and! bearcreekhaiku.blogspot.com (translates as joie de vivre)