At sundown in July, sisters pedal bikes
to the corner store for Jolly Ranchers
and Sweet Tarts.
Boys deal hands of Rummy 500,
shoot bottle rockets in vacant lots.
Women in housedresses don’t need
to keep lists – there is plenty of time
between whipping meringue
and hanging jeans on the line
to get to it all.
Ten-year-old Marley orphaned
last winter asks you (behind one
sweaty cupped palm) to make
Uncle Kevin stop lifting the sheet
after she has fallen asleep –
and will you when he coaches
your son’s Little League, chairs
the Common Council, employs
half the town?
Shoshauna Shy‘s poetry has recently been published courtesy of IthacaLit, Hartskill Review, RHINO, Gulf Stream and Sliver of Stone. She has flash fiction in the public arena or slated to appear thanks to A Quiet Courage, 100 Word Story, Fiction Southeast, Literary Orphans, Sou’wester and Prairie Wolf Press Review.
A Quiet Courage 