Dock Leaf
written by: Ricky Hawthorne
@searsjames
This forest was ours once
Before we knew each other
Not so long ago the pepper light
That trickles through these trees
Illuminated our rambling
Among the reds and browns
When romance stemmed no further
Than holding hands and swinging them
Like schoolchildren
We swapped banalities like spies trade secrets
And laughed all the more
Our breaths billowing
Like exhaust fumes on winter mornings
So many paths we stumbled over
Oblivious and happy
Myriads of mattes and glosses
Assailing our senses
With every new fork
Until I noticed the white grass
Beneath our feet
And yesterday’s footprints
That last day, clipping the heads off bluebells
With a thin dislocated branch
You stung yourself
And we hunted all over the wood
For the plant that would soothe the pain
Stumbling upon it by chance and I
Gently rubbed away the sting
Your blisters healed, I remember
But I never again found that blasted shrub
Graduate of Warwick University
Triple honors in Literature, Theater and Film
- Detonation - September 14, 2023
- Con—Text - April 19, 2023
- Addiction - July 13, 2021
