Birdbaths are like bridges, 
always the first to freeze, 

the first to call for Fall 
to leave the leaves alone. 

In the spring there will be 
time for leaves to crumble, 

time for the garden hose 
to spray away last year, 

give birds, petals, and seeds 
water for a fresh start. 

—Inspired by this photograph:

Image copyrighted © 2025 by Gerrie Paino.* All rights reserved.

Reproduced here with artist’s permission.

*Publisher’s Note:

Photograph was posted to Gerrie Paino’s Facebook page on 8 February 2025, with the caption “Suspended in time. Leaves frozen in a birdbath.” From her photographic series My Daily Walk.

This image and others from the series also appear in the artist’s Instagram gallery: https://www.instagram.com/gerriepaino/

Gerrie Paino

possesses an eclectically creative spirit which has led her in many directions throughout life. She relishes exploring the world around her and sharing what captivates her spirit with others. Photography has heightened her senses, teaching her to look more closely and engage more deeply with her subjects. She delights in inviting others to see the world through her eyes. Her work has appeared in About Place, Chestnut Review, EcoTheo Review, Humana Obscura, The Inflectionist Review, and Meditation Magazine, among others.

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ Five Photographs by Gerrie Paino in Issue 25 of MacQueen’s Quinterly (22 September 2024)

⚡ Night Train, Paino’s photograph selected for the Rattle Ekphrastic Challenge in April 2024

⚡ Photography as a Pathway to Meditation, an essay by Paino including five of her photographs in Meditation Magazine (22 December 2021)

Gary S. Rosin

is a Contributing Editor of MacQueen’s Quinterly. His poetry and haiga have appeared, or are forthcoming, in various literary reviews and anthologies, including Chaos Dive Reunion (Mutabilis Press, 2023); contemporary haibun (Volume 17, Red Moon Press, 2022); Concho River Review; The Ekphrastic Review; Sulphur River Literary Review; Texas Poetry Calendar; and Visions International.

Two of his ekphrastic poems appear in Silent Waters, photographs by George Digalakis (Athens, 2017). Rosin is the author of two chapbooks, Standing Inside the Web (Bear House Publishing, 1990) and Fire and Shadows (Legal Studies Forum, 2008). His poems “Black Dogs” and “Viewing the Dead” were nominated for Pushcart Prizes.

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ Night Wind, ekphrastic poem by Gary S. Rosin in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 15, September 2022); nominated for Best of the Net 2024

⚡ Black Dogs, poem by Gary S. Rosin in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 12, March 2022), which was subsequently nominated by MacQ for the Pushcart Prize.

See also Two Readings: “Apparition” and “Black Dogs” by Rosin for Texas Poetry Calendar 2015 at the Blue Willow Bookshop in Houston, Texas (20 September 2014).

⚡ Out of the Haze, collaborative haiga with photograph by George Digalakis and poem by Gary S. Rosin in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 8, June 2021); nominated for, and selected for publication in, Contemporary Haibun 17 (Red Moon Press, 2022)

⚡ Featured Poet: Gary S. Rosin in Issue 7 of MacQ (March 2021)

⚡ Crossing Kansas in The Wild Word (7 February 2020); includes audio of Rosin reading his poem