Wagon Train Girlhood
Around 1960
my friend Diane
would play "Wagon Train" with me,
the front porch
transformed, for us, into a conestoga,
as we lifted our imaginary skirts to walk down
cement steps,
gathering twigs for firewood,
picking small, red pyracantha berries
to serve in plastic toy dishes --
berry stew
berry mush
a side dish of purple, jacaranda blossoms.
Sometimes we galloped to the corner
on unseen horses,
looping invisible reins over the mailbox,
walking off to meet
a pretend husband
or pioneer scout lover,
our arms encircling the street lamp post,
lips kissing stone,
teeth brushing lightly
against the reality
of rough granite
First published in 2007 Blackwidow's Web
Makebelieve
An only child,
I created other worlds in my house:
closing all doors into the hallway,
making a long, quiet room
where I spread my mother’s soft,
sour-smelling bamboo beach mat,
drank pretend tea from Japanese lacquerware cups,
clicked ivory chopsticks
to eat phantom meals;
or, on rainy nights,
I formed a make-believe camp,
maybe a covered wagon,
holding up top sheet and blanket
with my majorette baton functioning as a tent stake,
a flashlight reflecting off the dimples of cold steel
like sparks
of my imagination
First published in the ezine Long Story Short, December, 2014
Pareidolia
A face appears on Half Dome,
the moon, and even on Mars,
a luminescent bird glows green
through the aurora borealis,
a rock formation creates a man’s silhouette,
a dog stares from the wood grain
on a closet door.
We see a monster
in the bark of a tree,
the shape of a woman
inside half an orange,
a cross
in the evening stars,
find Jesus
in a slice of bread.
First published in Penumbra, spring, 2023
An educator for over 30 years, Nancy Haskett retired in 2011 and is a member of the Ina Coolbrith Circle, MoSt (Modesto Stanislaus Poetry Center), as well as a small, local writing group. Her work has appeared in more than 40 publications, including the anthology More than Soil, More than Sky; Stanislaus Connections; Homestead Review; Iodine Press; Song of the San Joaquin; The Pen Woman; Monterey Poetry Review, Penumbra and more. In her spare time, Nancy enjoys reading, traveling, walking, and spending time with her family. Her poetry collection, Shadows & Reflections, is available on Amazon.
Around 1960
my friend Diane
would play "Wagon Train" with me,
the front porch
transformed, for us, into a conestoga,
as we lifted our imaginary skirts to walk down
cement steps,
gathering twigs for firewood,
picking small, red pyracantha berries
to serve in plastic toy dishes --
berry stew
berry mush
a side dish of purple, jacaranda blossoms.
Sometimes we galloped to the corner
on unseen horses,
looping invisible reins over the mailbox,
walking off to meet
a pretend husband
or pioneer scout lover,
our arms encircling the street lamp post,
lips kissing stone,
teeth brushing lightly
against the reality
of rough granite
First published in 2007 Blackwidow's Web
Makebelieve
An only child,
I created other worlds in my house:
closing all doors into the hallway,
making a long, quiet room
where I spread my mother’s soft,
sour-smelling bamboo beach mat,
drank pretend tea from Japanese lacquerware cups,
clicked ivory chopsticks
to eat phantom meals;
or, on rainy nights,
I formed a make-believe camp,
maybe a covered wagon,
holding up top sheet and blanket
with my majorette baton functioning as a tent stake,
a flashlight reflecting off the dimples of cold steel
like sparks
of my imagination
First published in the ezine Long Story Short, December, 2014
Pareidolia
A face appears on Half Dome,
the moon, and even on Mars,
a luminescent bird glows green
through the aurora borealis,
a rock formation creates a man’s silhouette,
a dog stares from the wood grain
on a closet door.
We see a monster
in the bark of a tree,
the shape of a woman
inside half an orange,
a cross
in the evening stars,
find Jesus
in a slice of bread.
First published in Penumbra, spring, 2023
An educator for over 30 years, Nancy Haskett retired in 2011 and is a member of the Ina Coolbrith Circle, MoSt (Modesto Stanislaus Poetry Center), as well as a small, local writing group. Her work has appeared in more than 40 publications, including the anthology More than Soil, More than Sky; Stanislaus Connections; Homestead Review; Iodine Press; Song of the San Joaquin; The Pen Woman; Monterey Poetry Review, Penumbra and more. In her spare time, Nancy enjoys reading, traveling, walking, and spending time with her family. Her poetry collection, Shadows & Reflections, is available on Amazon.
