Like fairy tale pictures in a big book
illustrated in crayon colors—
each character, tree, flower, bird
outlined in thin black ink for emphasis.
I remember walks through woods
dappled in summer light,
softness of pine needles underfoot,
scent of fallen leaves on the forest floor.
I see Sharon laughing…
she holds her boyfriend’s arm
to not slip on the stream’s algaed rocks.
I see me; wearing only what propriety allowed.
We walked a well-worn trace
headed for limestone pools,
a day of sun on warmed flat rocks
and winter cold water.
There were others also,
good friends and lovers,
remembered in the skins of youth
who have disappeared from the path.
The images come as staccato flashbacks—
immediate clicks of time that cannot capture
the us that was, now flickering ghost shadows.
on a forest trail almost obliterated by time.
-Charlene Stegman Moskal
Charlene Stegman Moskal is published in anthologies, print and online magazines including: “TAB Journal”, “Calyx”, and “Myslexia”. Her chapbooks are “One Bare Foot”, (Zeitgeist Press), “Leavings from My Table”, (Finishing Line Press),“Woman Who Dyes Her Hair” (Kelsay Books) and a full length poetry collection, “Running the Gamut”, (Zeitgeist Press).
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