Emily Dickinson 

Dried roses and loneliness 

Damp musk, juniper gin

A sweet secret kept well

 

E. E. Cummings

Modern buildings made of his words 

Falling oak leaf, smoker’s cough

A feeling of getting away with murder

 

Henry David Thoreau 

Wading boot lifting from the muck

Abandoned shed, rotten wood chopped

A longing for sapiosexual chemistry 

 

Audre Lorde

Brick-orange blaze melting hard candy 

Eye-contact making you forget your name

A rumble under your feet and in your heart

 

Robert Frost

Brisk Fall air, sweater tied round your waist 

Fork in the trail, decision to be made

An infatuation with dried, damaged pages

 

Billy Collins

Reams of sarcasm receipts in a moon’s hand

Famed oil painting subject needing a toothpick

A self-reflection gleamed off the Goat himself 

 

Mary Oliver

Fffffffp! sound of ripping off your sleeves

Playful piano strings her words onto pages

An unapologetic picnic when the park is closed

 

 

© Candice Reineke 2021