MOTHER ANN TELLS LUCY WHAT GAVE HER JOY
by Arra Lynn Ross
A moment of understanding
when the face lights up
and even the trees seem to kneel.
The mossy ground
below a huge willow
by the side of the marsh.
Children who come
with white faces
and turn pink
in the sun.
The sound of sawing in the woods
and the long lone hum
of a boat bearing lumber
down the Hudson.
The sudden deer in the trees,
a streak of white tail
and the hoof prints
filling with water.
The sound of voices
rounding out with grace,
with trust.
And rosehip tea steaming in the sun.
How many times we threw off our shoes
and danced together,
the cool ground under our soles.
And the mud! churned by feet, and horses,
ox-carts and cows.
The open throats
and closed eyes,
that red ringing
inside my heart.
And mornings that Lucy sang
making breakfast,
snatches of hymns
stuck together.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Arra Lynn Ross grew up on a communal farm in Minnesota and attended Macalester College in Saint Paul, where she earned her BA in English. She completed her PhD in creative writing from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and currently teaches creative writing at Saginaw Valley State University in Michigan. Her work has appeared in Spoon River Poetry Review, Hayden’s Ferry, Beloit Poetry Journal, and Alimentum. Ross’s poems have also been featured on Verse Daily and the Academy of American Poets’ Poem-a-Day. “Mother Ann Tells Lucy What Gave Her Joy” appears in her collection Seedlip and Sweet Apple (Milkweed Editions, 2010), available at Amazon.com or at Milkweed Editions.
Illustration: “The Willow Weeps,” digitally painted photo by Bonnie Bruno, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Prints available at etsy.com.
Silver Birch Press 