Understory

Molly Kugel

Fist of fern unfurling  
passage and stasis 
simultaneous

stop motion segment
of fiddlehead
threshold frond

we might find
what’s lost
in the 

of ledges of scree
a turning brass
doorknob

low tide line
or cloud forest 
when inclined when

the switchbacks start
littoral and quiet
approach of seedpod  

before your son 
runs out the door
you brush his hair from his eyes

settle there sediment
find a window
intertidal song

Molly Kugel is the author of The Forest of the Suburbs (Five Oaks 2015).  Her book, Herbereavarium (Tolsun 2022), and chapbook, gheasaibh (dgp 2021), are forthcoming. Her poems have appeared most recently in The Bennington Review, CALYX, the Mid-American Review, Cider Press Review, and Subtropics. She completed a PhD in Literary Studies at the University of Denver and is the ecology editor for Cordella magazine.