Alison Prine
Abundance
years accumulate
magnolia, hepatica, weeping cherry
all in bloom
boulder, blossom, bullet
beneath the wide blue self-sufficient sky
my brother gave up
stones, shale, a shoreline shifts
we had discussed
his suicide many times before
all of those conversations
moved to the interior
one act became a monument
a landmark
never very far
even as a child
when I climbed onto his shoulders
that monument stood permanent
and heavy in our future
our laughter echoing off
it was a very difficult thing to do
inside the woods, briefly
a carpet of flowers
Alison Prine’s debut collection of poems, Steel (Cider Press Review, 2016) was named a finalist for the 2017 Vermont Book Award. Her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, The Virginia Quarterly Review, Five Points, Harvard Review, and Prairie Schooner among others. She lives and works in Burlington, Vermont. Visit her at alisonprine.com.
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