21. To the Stars Through Difficulty: Al Ortolani

A hiker sets his Minolta on the stone
fence. In February’s mist, cloud
within cloud, silence
is like a feather in the grass,
as much a part of the earth as of the sky.
He picks up his camera and unsnaps
the lens cap. Somewhere today
there is a photograph, a doe retreating,
an image connecting the distant hawk
to the fletching of his heart.
–Al Ortolani

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