Dowsing

this is flat country-
osage and cedar,
field and fencepost with
no indications.

water forms in the far hills and
disappears.

tracking this land
step by step
foot by foot
she listens,
senses the underground.

what is it the split branch hears,
its course steady in her hands until
a silent urge bows it down?

she is the cycle-
drought and plenty,
burial and rising,
shelves and hollows.

suddenly in a sunken lane
it bends, insisting in her hands.

together they have found it.

this is where she will dig.

 © Dorothy Dodge

Dorothy Dodge has lived in the Baltimore area most of her life, and has a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. She became involved in the poetry community in the 1990’s and has read in many local venues. Her work has been published in the Maryland Poetry Review, The Pearl, Dancing Shadow Review, and elsewhere, and was a nominee for the Artscape poetry award. She currently hosts a monthly poetry salon and is devoting more of her time to studio art.

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