“What I Will Wear” by Laura Cherry

What I Will Wear

A mantle of courtyard light and a cloak
of greenish leaves. Cologne of spring mud
and horse droppings. A string of shells
from where we walked and wondered
if it was too strange, then kept walking.
Feather of pelican, feather of gull. Sand
to blow in your eyes before I kiss you.
My hair in waves. What shall my dress be?
Foam blood otter sky grass macadam wind.
A dress for mercy or grace, not innocence.
The shift I wore when we advanced
beneath the cathedral ribbons, with a veil
of fog for the moments we need to blur.
A borrowed optimism, flowers of glass.
Your gaze on me like something to hold.

Laura Cherry

Laura Cherry is the author of the collection Haunts (Cooper Dillon Books) and the chapbooks Two White Beds (Minerva Rising) and What We Planted (Providence Athenaeum). She co-edited the anthology Poem, Revised (Marion Street Press). Her work has been published or is forthcoming in journals, including Hartskill Review, Antiphon, Los Angeles Review, Cider Press Review, Tuesday; An Art Project, and H_NGM_N.

Photo Credit: Staff