Back to the Middle Ages

A little girl
teaches her kitten
to jump rope

At the garden center I search for tiny pink flowers to encircle a potted
evergreen on our front porch. Under my breath, I start to sing Ring a
Ring a Rosie, pocket full of posey, ashes, ashes, we all fall down. My
husband asks, “You know the origin of that rhyme, don’t you?”

     a photo of my bronze-skinned father wielding a scythe

A clerk tells us to keep a six-foot distance from one another as the
line to the cash register grows. I didn’t find the flowers but I do buy
aromatics such as thyme, bergamot, rosemary.

Empty street
a man wears the mask
of a raven

(Issue 28)