Earth’s Answer — Tomah, WI

The blooming of the floodplain  
is surreal in its brevity. Red-
capped mushrooms are stooge 
to wind-wavering ferns. On 
June evenings the riverside is a 
burnished copper blade. By
night the river knits pockets
beneath town, and each sleeping 
mind that passes downstream stops 
to add a secret. 

— MILES VARANA

Miles Varana’s work has appeared in Typehouse, The Penn Review, and Passages North. He has worked previously as a staff reader and managing editor at Hawai’i Pacific Review. Miles currently works for WKBT News in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he does his best to be a good Millennial despite disliking tandem bike rides.