Disturbances by Ken Belford

Trees make shadows and
alternative environments
 
are fragmented by disturbances.
Water snakes and anglers come here.
 
Strong stories with strong tails
and long, broad gills are going
 
and now I walk around town
remembering the big trees.
 
Rainbow have a strong fidelity 
to wood-formed pools in the fall,
 
matrix dams last for years
and the bigger the trees the better.
 
The loss of the old growth 
makes huge disturbances.
 
Rivers need trees that don’t move 
until everything moves.
 
Complex flow, heterogeneous zone.
Look around – trees in the water
 
and trees on the ground
make new sediment terraces
 
and a certain kind of fish 
in a certain kind of water
 
forms around obstructions 
that cause friction.