In flight, before the heavy fog line,
their feet hang with wet mud,
as sunrise reflects from earth-stained wings soaring
like heroic shining spirits in cities filled with tyrants—
Faith spreads across the great splendor of the Rio Grande
And, in the frost, everywhere, trust lives in God.
Morning steam rises over a light-flushed canal
to greet Sandhill cranes, an overwhelming peace
felt in the pa-rum-pa-pum-pum of their calls.
Originally published in the St. Austin Review
Wendy Gist was raised in the forests of the Southwest on the outskirts of Flagstaff, Arizona. Her poems and fiction have appeared or are forthcoming in Burningword, For Women Who Roar, Galway Review, Fourth River, New Plains Review, Oyez Review, Rio Grande Review, Soundings Review, St. Austin Review and other journals. Gist has worked as a professional contributing writer for numerous publications, including Better Nutrition, Caribbean Travel & Life, eDiets, New Mexico Magazine, Pilates Style, Today’s Diet & Nutrition, and many others, national and international. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and was named semifinalist for The Best Small Fictions, 2017.