Poetry by Dawn Leas

              Jason Riedy CC




How long will it take you to learn that life doesn’t wait?
for Marge


Soon the sunflowers will bow and you’ll weep 
at the beauty of nothingness. You’ll run fast

and hard through the field. You’ll kick off your 
shoes and feel the love of summer dirt.

That’s right – let it bathe your feet, find 
its way under your toe nails. The angels 

will applaud. The wind will push your hair
away from your eyes, trail it behind your body.

You’ll feel the energy the closer you get to nowhere.
The moon’s gone on vacation, but you’ll find your way 

through tall, green stalks speaking what you
can not hear. Keep going. Straight to the center

of the Earth. You’ll find your broken heart there. 
It’s patient, waiting for you to pick up the sea

glass buried where you never expected – cradled 
in mountains kissing sky far inland from salt water. 

The river will turn its eyes on you.  You’ll stand 
at its edge barefoot, never forget the depths 

of its cold. You always assumed everyone 
would be there when you returned. 

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Dawn Leas is the author of two chapbooks, A Person Worth Knowing (Foothills Publishing), and I Know When to Keep Quiet, (Finishing Line Press) as well as a full-length poetry collection, Take Something When You Go, (Winter Goose Publishing). Her work has appeared in New York Quarterly, The Paterson Literary Review, Literary Mama, The Pedestal Magazine, SWWIM, Cumberland River Review, San Pedro River Review, and elsewhere. She’s a poet, writing coach, manuscript consultant, and arts educator. She’s also a proud back-of-the pack runner, newbie hiker, salt-water lover, and mom of two grown sons.