For the first five years
I wouldn’t plant poppies,
afraid of what witch might
murmur over the crystal ball
of my life, afraid of sleeping
forever waiting for snow.
But eventually, the sale was good
and the space by the garage was bare.
Come the blooming, I reached
for the brightness of vermillion petals
and it all fell apart, as I knew it would.
Jennifer Schomburg Kanke
Jennifer Schomburg Kanke’s work has appeared or is forthcoming in Pleiades, Prairie Schooner, Fugue, and Goblin Fruit. Additionally, she was the winner of the Science Fiction Poetry Association’s 2013 poetry contest for the “dwarf form.” Previously she was the poetry editor of The Southeast Review and an editor for Quarter After Eight.
Artwork: Alexandra Khitrova, “Street of Poppies”
Website: http://gaudibuendia.deviantart.com/
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