One kid crying,

a river made of bricks,

a tree with bright orange flowers.

Two dragonflies dancing

the sun, freckled shoulders,

a slug bug with no one to punch.

A happy dog,

a required hello because I was staring

a mumbled “hey” falling off my lips.

One girl

sitting on her own,

everything to say

with only a few words at her fingertips.

A sentence here,

a sentence there,

but nothing important being said.

A destiny.

A child’s unnamed fate,

a young death

perhaps.

Six boys on bikes,

one not fast enough

one left behind.

Laughter.

A girl prettier than me.

Two still swings,

and the leaves from last year.

A night before,

a secret kiss,

a misunderstanding.

A wanting.

A touch,

a lie

and a dawn.

A speculation.

An eclipse on everyone’s mind.

A story everyone knows.

A train screaming.

A dream screaming.

A fear silent.

A future where I walk away

a life I never see again.

An acorn,

a squirrel

Greek gods and modern poets,

with Petrarch in between.

Paper,

breeze through branches,

ants on grass,

a memory

a time that now feels like it doesn’t exist.

A best friend’s car–

a friend’s car

a word I don’t know how to use.

The cusp of madly in love

the void of indifference.

The ignorance of falling completely into either,

and the inability to crawl back out.

A river made of bricks.

A tree with bright orange flowers.

A notebook,

a pen.

A girl.

A poem.

Author's note:

This poem is the result of an exercise I use to help conquer writer's block. Because I wasn't able to write this morning, I went to the park and began writing down the things I could see. As I continued to write, the list became more abstract and diverged from physical observations into ideas and speculations. Usually, after this, the writer will be able to use this list to write a story or, in my case, a poem. Of course, I wasn't intending for the actual list to become the poem, but this one just worked out this way.