The slight pear tree held
my five-year-old curious-girl frame.
Fall fell year-long.
Ladybugs tempted and purified.
Startled by a praying mantis, I dropped to my knees.
A doorway in the hedge led me home.
Years later, I finally learned to inhale.
Half-smoked cigarettes dotted spots under the pines,
where I also left my innocence. Baited by bases.
Kissed by the sun. Sustained by drugstore candy and dreams.
About Amy Barone
Amy Barone’s latest poetry collection, We Became Summer, from New York Quarterly Books, was released in early 2018. She wrote chapbooks Kamikaze Dance (Finishing Line Press) and Views from the Driveway (Foothills Publishing.) Barone’s poetry appears in Café Review, Paterson Literary Review, Sensitive Skin, and Standpoint (UK.) She lives in New York City. Twitter: AmyBBarone
