H.D. Feature

Gretchen Steele Pratt: Three poems

For any that come back

You remember one doorbell, someone sunbathing
On a lawnchair.  But you can’t find those hard, glossy
Rhododendron.  Show some mercy to the wheelbarrow
On its side.  It’s not a message.  Leave it alone
As you would an angel in the middle of the field.


Sappho at the Ballet

we never knew
                deep pearl                         snow lawn

       for you
                             locked box.

Ribbon laces    bare feet            I would not
          think to

                               coins in my heart
Ears are wings.

                                but I love
                     (come here)

        short transparent dress

    it matters
                               in my lap (sorrow)
            white bag.
            burn


     somewhere you hold sweet peas
In your fist.  O
traffic

           I would not think to
                       it matters

                                        red brush
          (come here)

   again


When You Read To Me

somewhere a machine
makes a lace shawl fine enough
to pull through your ring

Gretchen Steele Pratt’s poems have previously appeared or are forthcoming in Best New Poets 2009, The Southern Review, The Iowa Review, The Southwest Review, The Boston Review, Indiana Review, The Gettysburg Review, Witness, AGNI Online, and on Poetry Daily.