Laura Donnelly

The Sky Bright Between

You said, if you really want a child then
I will, but my want wasn’t big enough
for both of us, unsure as it was even
of its own shape. More like the maple
in spring than the full-leafed tree, all those gaps
and the sky bright between. Beauty
in the spaces and beauty in the green.
I envied your certainty, though you’d once
thought we would when it seemed far off.
Now, we’re here. A friend said not to let fear
get a vote, but I cannot un-know how
a body can break, how a marriage, a child.
I’ve been stitching these gaps with gold thread
all my life. This is the cloth I will make.

________________________________________________________________________________________

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.