The 2River View 26.4 (Summer 2022)
 
 

Vanessa Ogle

En Plein Air

Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn

Eyes closed, so many people succumbing to the ground. 
If only death were this easy. The monarch flies low, its 

Shadow against a footprint. Warmth without wind, but
Clouds threaten, and night still brings its goosebumps. 

Bathing caps, bobbing heads, arms like windmills by the jetties.
Kids splash until even with dripping hair, they duck.

Sand moves forward and back, the satisfying cold of hard 
Packed ground that sinks under my feet; another cool wave

Moving earth. You by my side. In trunks I picked out
And those Aviators. We’re not married yet. 

I always seem to walk in someone else’s footprints.
There’s a man playing music, and a couple tangoing  

On a hill, their dance steps etched until water washes them away.
You take down our umbrella, and its points graze your face.

Thousands of moons are in every wave, white bubbles dissipating 
As seashells rock, breaking into beach fossil.  I ask you if I

Can take a picture of the dancers and as we leave the beach,
We see a man has painted us.
 

the names of flowers

is this a concerted effort, some parent—maybe
grandparent—when they’re young? this is a petunia,

this is—everyone knows lilac, tulip, rose.
the rest just mean someone loved you enough

to teach you what they thought
was important—what you'll need in school,

society, or while planning your wedding. could you
imagine knowing all the names of flowers, not just

the names of what you saw, contextualized as you
saw it: Bob's rhubarb plants, the mulberry tree that

left splotches of blue and purple on cars in the driveway.
the other plants I don't know. they are just images

in my memory without a name. deep purple
and intertwined like a vine…
 

Vanessa Ogle is a poet and writer living in Brooklyn, New York. She received her MFA from Hunter College in 2020.

 << Kevin Miller Federica Santini >>
 
Copyright 2River. Please do not use or reproduce without permission.