Pepper Trail

Dandy

As girl, you hid behind a hood of hair
Took up residence inside overalls
Deflected eyes every way you could

As young man, you now reveal yourself
A dandy, startling in your pegged green pants
Thrift-store shoes, sleek as greyhounds
Paired with Armani shirt and blazer by Zara
Its texture echoed exactly in the S24 tie
Sunning itself on your broad chest

You weave through the midday streets
Among the folk living their lives
In flip-flops and unfortunate shorts
And every head turns as you pass
It is in the nature of the sun to shine

Pepper Trail‘s  poems have appeared in Rattle, Atlanta Review, Spillway, Borderlands, Ascent and other publications, and have been nominated for Pushcart and Best of the Net Awards. His collection, Cascade-Siskiyou: Poems, was a finalist for the 2016 Oregon Book Award in Poetry. He lives in Ashland, Oregon, where he works as a biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.