What Happened in the Backyard
I am in the backyard. It looks like mine,
but somehow I know it’s not. Those present:
my sister, her friend, my mother, myself.
My sister and I are having a stupid verbal fight.
These words are actually said: stupid and fight.
My words stick to my tongue and throat,
eventually emerging in a guttural rasp.
From the sky a huge animal – I think it’s a bull –
meteor-falls into the middle of the grass.
Two crows caw and swoop down close.
Perplexed that large creatures are congregating here,
I think about calling my friend, who runs a ranch.
Surely she’ll know what to do.
Louise Kantro, a retired high school English teacher, is a bridge-player, cat-lover, and CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) for foster children. She received her MFA from Goddard College in 2003 and has published poetry and prose in such journals as Oasis, Cloudbank, The Chariton Review, the new renaissance, South Loop Review, Monterey Poetry Review, and Caesura. Her latest project is scanning a century’s worth of family photos.
I am in the backyard. It looks like mine,
but somehow I know it’s not. Those present:
my sister, her friend, my mother, myself.
My sister and I are having a stupid verbal fight.
These words are actually said: stupid and fight.
My words stick to my tongue and throat,
eventually emerging in a guttural rasp.
From the sky a huge animal – I think it’s a bull –
meteor-falls into the middle of the grass.
Two crows caw and swoop down close.
Perplexed that large creatures are congregating here,
I think about calling my friend, who runs a ranch.
Surely she’ll know what to do.
Louise Kantro, a retired high school English teacher, is a bridge-player, cat-lover, and CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) for foster children. She received her MFA from Goddard College in 2003 and has published poetry and prose in such journals as Oasis, Cloudbank, The Chariton Review, the new renaissance, South Loop Review, Monterey Poetry Review, and Caesura. Her latest project is scanning a century’s worth of family photos.
