Laura LeHew

Critical Defense

–after Jane Hirshfield

I shot the Berretta

I loaded frangible round into the Berretta
I shot the Berretta
the way no is pushed when baptized yes

 

What We Give Up

we begin and end in the woods
old women and the trees

beyond the backyard
edging the cemetery
hide’n seek

girl scouts making camp
stacking stones
finding our paths back

crossing the bitter cold of the river
removing leeches
at the trailhead

leaves of three
leaving them be
silence

girls blazing into bright red
poppies pistil stamen pollen
boys our marlins

we slip into heels
move indoors
form families

asleep in our boat
we acquiesce through time
the forest just out of sight

in the fall
out the front door
wherever we walk

riotous willows, oaks, elms
clone, root, take seed
sprout

pilot us back
to where we began

 

Laura LeHew always thought she’d be an astronaut.  She has published several books including Beauty (Tiger’s Eye Press), Becoming (Another New Calligraphy), It’s Always Night, It always Rains (chapbook in a collection–Ashes Caught on the Edge of Light:  10 Chapbooks, Winterhawk Press books), and Willingly Would I Burn (MoonPath Press). She edits her small press, Uttered Chaos (utteredchaos.org) in the wilds of Eugene, Oregon. Visit lauralehew.com for more information.