Martha McCollough
On Mother’s Blue Hat
High out of reach / netted lacquer cherries tremble
and shine / inviting the bees, her perfect children / not us
so waspish and barking / busy with accident — thinking
the pearls were pop-beads and now they’re all over the floor
we try on her tall shoes / tiny oceans rock in the glass heels
inside minuscule oysters spin layers of nacre / glimmering
and breakable / it’s not forgiveness if we go by in a blur
restless continents sidle to her knee / lay our heads in her lap
we bad dogs dig up bones in the orchard / set them on fire
Martha McCollough lives in Chelsea, Massachusetts. She has an MFA in painting from Pratt Institute. Her poems are forthcoming or have appeared in Tampa Review. The Baffler, Crab Creek Review, and Salamander, among others. Her chapbook, Grandmother Mountain, will be published by Blue Lyra Press October 2019.