"My Back to the Fescue" by Carol P. Krauss

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/.