Anna Ursyn, Noise Control
Back to School
Erin Matheson Ritchie
You can name every sprout
on the trail: amaryllis belladonna, juncus inflexus,
California wheatgrass.
Me, I can count every way you’ll
leave: a flood, a fall, the
gentle swell of forgetting.
Your optimism spills from your teeth.
I soak it up, a poppy reaching
for the sun.
I want to believe.
I almost do.
Erin Matheson Ritchie
You can name every sprout
on the trail: amaryllis belladonna, juncus inflexus,
California wheatgrass.
Me, I can count every way you’ll
leave: a flood, a fall, the
gentle swell of forgetting.
Your optimism spills from your teeth.
I soak it up, a poppy reaching
for the sun.
I want to believe.
I almost do.