Laura Donnelly

The Naturalist

I was born with a box for sorting:
small bits of bark here,
seed pods there. 

I come by it naturally. My mother
lined her windowsills
with cat whiskers, feathers, 

a preserved bumblebee
she found dead
on the dash of her car. 

Some people thought
she was a witch but I knew
the science of dragonfly
wings on bookshelves. 

There’s an order to everything
you see. 

A stack of Petoskey stones
chart Paleozoic coral. 

She taught me the wonder
of carapace and keratin, 

bones so light you could not
perceive weight
when you lifted.

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Laura Donnelly is the author of two collections of poetry, Midwest Gothic (Ashland Poetry Press) and Watershed (Cider Press Review) and her recent poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Iron Horse Literary Review, SWWIM, EcoTheo Review, Colorado Review and elsewhere. Originally from Michigan, she lives in Upstate New York where she teaches and directs the creative writing program at SUNY Oswego.