Campervan

“Campervan” was published in the North Dakota Quarterly.

You open the side window and
birdsong floods the van
there is a pause in the rain
you take our son to pick tart berries
staining your teeth

staining your teeth
ferns along the river
unfurl around your ankles

Earlier, you climbed to the lip
of an old blue glacier
the last of its kind
melting like candlewax
into the southern sea

Your yellow poncho
a flag in the storm
ice calves and waterfalls
fed the foment as you
disappeared beyond a rise

I boiled ramen for the boys
on the camper stove
our long johns wet and stuck
to cold chicken skin
the van windows gathering steam
we wiped away

we wiped away
scanning the horizon
for your return