And Another Thing About the Blue

by Carrie Chappell

Girl walks into the forest. Sun cans its rays into the chest of a tree. Grace she’s known before under the pines. Drool of sap creeps down the bark. Girl considers the mood. A glass cage, submarine chamber. Another thing, but missing: water. Squirrels scuttle past her, fast as minnows. Ferns become anemones. Girl thinks, Stranger grows the garden longer she away. Girl thumbs a holly leaf, winks a bug away. A bead of sweat trails, tucking itself in the briar of her hair, here in the sometimes-called yonder.