child asks why did you

by Kelly DuMar

Trees & Stars Before Dawn by Kelly DuMar

                             let the dragonfly         
 
                                    die alone         
 
so high wall     
 
                      house closed    
 
all  night  without
 
                              air       flower      sky
 
his open    palm        is holding
  
                                                a face      full of     lidless 
 
eyes
 
                                                                                               – you   should   have –                                              
 
                                                           why did you not
 
put          it       free
 
                                        I    must     now
 
follow child
 
                                            to my garden     to kneel to
 
         spade    into soil    under bee balm
 
                         goes the once-alive   blue-needled       one        

into this hole        
 
                    into this vast –
 
                                 all my I’s
 
must someday be tipped
 
          just like this –

for now      see    how     
 
           to a child’s arm –
 
               wings
 
                       eyes
 
                                  come

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Kelly DuMar is a poet, playwright, and workshop facilitator from Boston. She’s author of four poetry collections, including jinx and heavenly calling, published by Lily Poetry Review Books in March 2023. Her poems are published in Bellevue Literary Review, Tupelo Quarterly, Thrush and more. Her images have been featured on the cover of Josephine Quarterly, About Place, Synkroniciti, Feral, Cool Beans Lit, Young Ravens Literary Review, Etymology, Confetti and Atlantic Northeast. Kelly produces the Featured Open Mic for the Journal of Expressive Writing. Her abstract photos celebrate the beauty and organic complexity of nature from the habitat of her home on the Charles River and her travels beyond.

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