BY JULIE JOHNSON
Copyright is held by the author.
The Bat 1
sometimes I’ll wait
until the orange
glow wavers and the
twilight deepens past
cobalt to a purple thrum
to see if you’ll come out
and swim in circles in the
front lawn’s growing
globular shadows
I know you are feasting but
it looks like you are
dancing and
I’m your loyal
audience
appreciative of your dexterity
blessed to have our lives
fuse, albeit briefly
an orchestrated
artistic happenstance
in the growing chill
until the moment
you dart over my
rooftop and continue
living your life
alongside mine
The Bat 2
the shadows are my
favourite part
full, fast, feasting
your human curiosity
on the fringe is a faint
warning to be quicker
small, darting, fluid, fast
I could outrace you, maybe
I trust only your immobility
though I sense your scent
of gratitude and I in turn
appreciate you staying far
away from me as I circle
in space, a space
so rich, radiant and glittering
a thrum aligned with nourishment
my dangerous place of peace
***
Julie Johnson has been writing creatively for decades, and has previously
published pieces here on CommuterLit, with poetry and short stories. She enjoys writing about nature and comedy, and has published two comedy novels about environmental activism, a short story series about zombies and several books of playful poems, all of which can be found here:
https://books2read.com/ap/8NkGZz/Julie-Johnson She is a retired educator, long time activist, lives in the Simcoe area of Ontario and is a guest contributor to the Simcoe County Greenbelt Coalition’s Substack, The Whale.
