i.
Neighbor kids with
shirts like capes
tied ‘round their necks
faces painted, peeling
from the spirited sun
and sweat from their
brows. They dashed through
sprinkler and freshly
trimmed grass, toy guns
in hand and a warrior cry
They skinned their knees
brushing off dirt
on torn cargo shorts
laughing, without
a tear in dusty eyes
Against the falling light
the growing shadows
made them feel tall
ii.
Between fence posts
the orange sun whispered
through wiry webs
from where the spiders
packed up and left
and the cat curled
with tail between hind legs
candidly licking its
paws as ears poked
out from under the
shade of the porch
Across the way, the head
of a doe and two fawns
shyly peered out from
the rows of the growing
corn to cross the newly
cut golden field of wheat
iii.
Lying in a bed of grass
cold sweat against
warm skin, searching
still to find my luck
I wove fingers and toes
through clusters of clover
with weighty lungs. The air
seemed heavier. The smell
of pollen and pine trees-
moister, rich and swelling
I swallowed the sun
inch by inches inch
with every breath deeper
than the one before
