The 2River View 25.2 (Winter 2021)
 
 

Lisa C. Krueger

Night Trees

A magnolia in my yard
has glossy sheaves
like a book I could read
forever, new chapters
at the tip of branches,
every narrative reaching
beyond itself:
trees have veins
yet no one can locate
their heart;
at night when water
courses through branches,
you can see limbs tremble
to pump sap,
you can hear a beat
if you wake.
    

Still Life, Yellow

When we walk out, light
has changed: each level

of the parking structure
is illuminated, miraged

in bands of lemon.
We pass a woman

in a wheelchair waiting
for her ride. She wears

a sunflower cap, gazes
straight ahead, motionless.

The doctor offered
good news, things look

fine, my daughter
can return in six months.

I vow to love all over again.
I wear a yellow dress.
    

Lisa C. Krueger has poems in Alaska Quarterly Review, Ploughshares, and Prairie Schooner. Her most recent collection is Run Away to the Yard (Red Hen Press).

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