By Edward Dougherty
Walking through open rooms
Walking through open rooms
cradling her newborn,
a pang like a staple
went through her then locked.
She gazed into her infant’s face
and knew her daughter
was considering the end
of the world. What kind of mother
am I, she asked herself,
to think this? She won’t
speak of it but knows
one day the girl
will ask the forsythia hedge
“when will the men
and women all die,” and it
will answer I am green now.
That is all I know.
Edward Dougherty’s “Forsythia” appears in his new collection, House, World, Heaven. Dougherty earned an MFA in Creative Writing from Bowling Green State University and has published 6 collections of poetry and 5 chapbooks, including Grace Street (Cayuga Lake Books), Everyday Objects (Plain View), and House of Green Water (FootHills Publishing).
