BUCOLICS
by Will Finlayson
lawns wet leashes flung by the door a
mailbox with a red flag let’s take the
girls to the park get your sun hat maybe
a chicken run for the side yard build a
rabbit hutch let’s eat on the patio tonight
you can drink straight from the garden
hose dear grab the linens on the line wash
your hands listen to the toads if you want to
catch them oh thetide is coming in warm
rain always gathers on the north end of
summer breeze over hot asphalt on the
way to Sunday school glory given in
planters left untended see the bewildered
honey bee well-wishes blooming green on
this patio built by hands and another humid
night has been seen into beauty, palm, lily.
Will Finlayson studied poetry and fiction at BYU in Provo, Utah. His work has been published in Inscape, The Southampton Review, and Thoreau’s Rooster.