Maura Way

Originally from Washington, DC, Maura lives in North Carolina, by way of Boise, Idaho. Her work has previously appeared in Yemassee, Beloit Poetry Journal, The Chattahoochee Review, Poet Lore, and Folio. ANOTHER BUNGALOW, her debut collection, was released by Press 53 in 2017. Maura has been a schoolteacher for over twenty years, most recently at New Garden Friends School in Greensboro.

Fairy Ring

Right timing rises up in me likemushrooms. Toadstools alert foraction, white blooming out of nowhere, a soft Stonehenge of greenand muggy dog days. I know there isa tree of life underground that has takena terribly long time to grow. Dancing fruitbodies suddenly unearth their lawn-upwardbabies to be blown away. Pixie sporesready: spiral spread throughout the rot and rut-rich world.

Finally, the Dogwood

buds appear. Angrygreen hearts of thornscream for attention.Ugly duckling petals,homely as artichoke,bright contrast to wetscaly wood. I used tofind this quiet ritegleeful. Now I am sotired by her tenacity.

Straining

Gladiolas protest when nothing else with derring-domay manifest itself. The marigolds are too busy:remembering the this-and-that of kin-and-caboodle.They mock the mealy-mouthed snapdragons andpay no income-tax. Keen, colorful swords will stillstand sentinel long after we need them to be that way.

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