I SAW A LEAF CHANGING COLOR WHILE I SAT BY THE POOL
by Shirley Jones-Luke
Poor thing. Its internal clock must be off. It’s only August,
yet the edges of the leaf were golden. As if touched by Midas
the leaf hung apart from the others, bent in an awkward position.
I sat under the rogue leaf. It was humid. My skin was flushed
with sweat. Nearby, children splashed in the pool. Its water
was a crystal blue. Rippling tiny waves against the edge.
A dragonfly flew past. Inspected the leaf. Zipped away.
Landing on a pink sandal. Its wings making its own breeze.
It then flew off into a field of dandelions. Small suns.
Perhaps the leaf wanted to be a sun. Or a dandelion.
Or a dragonfly. Maybe it wanted to be a child laughing
in the cool water. Or maybe sit with me at the pool
for a little while longer.
Shirley Jones-Luke is a poet of color. Ms. Luke writes at the intersection of nature, race and society. Shirley has an MA in English and an MFA in Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in Adanna, BlazeVOX, Deluge, For the Sonorous and Longleaf Review. She was a 2017 Poetry Fellow at The Watering Hole Poetry Retreat. Ms. Luke was a 2018 participant at VONA and Tin House summer workshops.