By happenstance we reach
County Trunk MM, locate Clayton,
next Lalor where Murphy Road T-bones,
homesteads unfolding under coverlets
of green, the tresses of willows a caress
upon the ground.
We nearly miss the acreage of farmland
we called home, for what was a bald barnyard

is now shrouded with trees, their evergreen shadows
cooling the afternoon in mimicry of that May
when we unbuckled overalls, slept on linoleum,
awakened to runners on a marathon
to Stoughton. I ask the spruces is this marriage

what I imagined when I curled in sleep
upon their land – as if they knew me then,
and what exactly I wanted; as if I could distinguish
between expectation and acceptance; knew how
to rate the width of contentment; measure against loss,
the stretch of need.

Twice nominated for a Pushcart Prize, Shoshauna Shy was a finalist for the Tom Howard/Margaret Reid poetry prize sponsored by Winning Writers in 2015, and her 5th poetry collection was just released by Aldrich Press of Kelsay Books titled A Splash of Easy Laughter. Shy is also a flash fiction author - but that's another story!