Seven short haiku-like scenes follow a walker through a wild, mountainous landscape. The place names (Dry Fork, Otter Creek, Dolly Sods) suggest a real region, though the poem never says more than that. Nothing dramatic happens. Instead, the speaker notices small things: an uncut hayfield, a doe's twitching ear, rhododendrons glowing into a tent in the morning light.
There is quiet humor too. The dry creek bed becomes a tic-tac-toe board filled with zeros, and Otter Creek turns out to have everything except otters. A darker note appears when the speaker says the soil "burned off" after the forest was cut, yet bleeding hearts still bloom among the rocks. Nature seems damaged but persistent.
The mood is relaxed, curious and gently playful. The last stanza sums it up: the speaker looks at lichens and leaves the map in the pack, choosing wandering and close attention over getting anywhere in particular.