Poetry of Issue #7        Page 54

incorrectly shelved

ah, a pastel plaid jacket is all it takes
to believe spring’s coming
any minute, and maybe,
it’s revisiting easter

in fourth grade

but how long will soundless colors play out
how long can the old stay wrapped
inside a day of winter sun, on
an afternoon that takes

them far into fantasy, if you call it that
far into planned excursions where yellow is
first to color the cold ground, or where summer
already landed, and what do you say about the way

      a road rolls out,
       flat as cardboard
          right in front of them

as if a purple sun setting sea to sea, creates
parity across earth, but in a display of chaos; a
snarl of snakes, and the aloneness of dreams are
again incorrectly shelved the night before

         everyone steps away from a world they once knew

winter/ 2019

  ellen 'windy' (aug) lytle