It is incredibly sad
Rainwater sits on top of concave dirt
dressed in a ripples of amusement
Steel raindrops crushed cattails at pondside
and made them learn to swim last night
Nowhere Sunna, or Khepri,
Amaterasu, or Ra to blot the earth
The glistening fern bow, soaked,
spilling stardust guts
We stare with no reply
standing in purple rubber boots
We move to Maine and Minnesota,
turn the pages of an old fairy tale
Barometers line the cottage wall,
tomatoes, kale and peas brim the garden
Cords of spider-filled maple logs
pile the lean-to for moderate winter
I research how to grow pectoral fins
and email my son
Constance Jean Clark is a retired high school literature teacher, former business owner, and former national trade magazine editor. She recently published the poem “Sticks & Stones” in the Moonstone Press Sylvia Plath Remembrance collection. She attended the Iowa Writers’ Poetry Workshop in May 2023. She believes that the sapient voices of emerging senior poets are as rich and sharp in imagery and confession as those of diverse young poets. She has a BA, MSJ, NJ Supervisor certification, and Yoga certification. She lives in central New Jersey, not far from her three children and two exuberant grandchildren, where she writes and runs every day.
Image: themertailor.com
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