Joshua C. Allen’s The White Oak Peninsula is an ode to a place, a nostalgic discourse into earthy wildness and days of youth and adventure that many of us can relate to. As for the specific location Joshua’s poem is focused on, he explained to The Dewdrop, “It concerns a real but magical place, a hollow in the woods of Indiana where two creeks meet and is more integral to my identity than any other place on Earth.”
The White Oak Peninsula
We came to
leap across the water,
swing on muscadine,
tease the psychopomp,
and bound through the woods
like other beasts.
Best friends of berry and thorn.
A hollow
where the Honey
meets the Wildcat.
There an oak
fallen upon the creek,
waterworn to a heartwood
of stone.
The bridge to a view
and a chance of misstep
I’ve never said no to.
Footfalls to and from the bank
were a knock at the door
of a pool beneath the trunk,
home to a turtle
that floated to the surface
to show a marvelous
indifference to me.
Joshua C. Allen
Joshua C. Allen is a poet, singer, and songwriter with a passion for gardening, ecological sustainability, lucid dreaming, and chasing waterfalls. He can also play the didgeridoo. He has been published in From the Well House, Poetry Quarterly, and Three Line Poetry. His Instagram account: hoosierhiker follows his travel, hiking, and waterfalling adventures.