We hid from the big kids,

ducking down into secret pockets of green,

guarded by alder, cedar and Douglas fir.

 

Thrush, flycatcher, robins sang to us

fancy free,

the Downy, Harry and Pileated

knocking up the trees.

 

We waded into the edges of the pond in our new back-to-school hush puppies,

because the frogs were just waiting for us to catch them.

 

The huckleberries were huge, the biggest ever.

We picked and ate, picked and ate,

Collected some for salmon-thimble-huckle-black-berry pie

Or smushed them all up in a bowl with sugar.

 

The huckleberry foliage was delicate and soft,

kinder than blackberries with their stickery thorns

that drew blood.