Understory

"Understory: A layer of vegetation beneath the main canopy of forest."

I learned about understory in Alaska

As my friends and I waded through the 

Green grasses beneath the alder trees on

A tiny island in a river as silver as Coho

Salmon while dragonflies flitted 

 Past us in a sheen of blue.

I marveled at the thought of each quiet

Thing--seed and leaf and moss and shrub--

Whispering their stories there 

Beneath the noise of our unhearing feet.