Again, I am ten. My
back to the fescue,
bumblebees and no-see-ums
looping around my head.
Aerobatic insects.
At the edge of the water is dog,
mud socks and dripping burnished
locks of a Setter.
I hold my right arm high, make
a pencil of my index finger and thumb.
Trace the lion, bear, and elephant
In the sky.
A mockingbird calls, and the willow
sapling bends to gulp Lake Norman.
I outline the giraffe and alligator
clouds as they meander across the sky.
A cumulus circus ambling through my
childhood. The dogs, the birds, a tree
with no backbone to witness. My story
penned in the sky.
Carol Parris Krauss is a mother, teacher, and poet from the Tidewater region of Virginia. This Clemson graduate is a watcher and her poems are New South-visually descriptive with multiple layers. She was honored to be selected as a 2018 Best New Poet by the University of Virginia Press. Her recent work can be found in Black Bough, Mixed Mag, Twist in Time, and Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel. Her website is https://www.carolparriskrausspoet.com/.