by jessica clarke

"Taller"

My sister and I
once stood back to back,
she thought she was taller,
I knew I was.

She noticed later the grit
under my nails,
gradually saw its gold.
I learned that her daughters live
beneath her skin.

Sometimes we are
side by side,
she covets my minutes
slower in time's sieve,
I envy her the legacies
pocketed, safe as tissues,
in her sleeve.


"Beyond"

A robin lights
beside the window
for three seconds,
more settled
than my brother,
dusty and transcendent
in the Grand Canyon,
scanning the whole world
around that universal rim.

I don't see beyond
the farmhouse lights
atop the hill
or hear above
the suburban wind chimes
playing the proprietary tune
I programmed

owning not even
the wind-sigh
that sends me their smile,
not wanting to smell beyond
the manure that packs this land
with the firmness
of fate's hand.


"Satisfaction"

I look at constellations,
but if I'd been
born a flower
I would have starlight for eyes,
soaked with satisfaction,
drenched as pansy petals
after a shower.

A rooster sings
its satisfaction,
feathered in pleasure,
while morning sheds
dawn's shawl of chill.
I listen,
stationary, solid
as silos on the hill
that frame the farmhouse,
sentinels of constancy.

Satisfaction is subtle
as the smell of rain
dangling like music in the air.
It sits on the seat
of the combine
trundling through bundles
of green turned gold.
It ambles with the cows
crossing the rise
to hide in herd
before a storm.

I seek the sky
for answers,
raise palms in prayer,
while satisfaction
slides with the sun
off Massanutten's peak
toward twilight.

Graphic: strawbale construction, Natural Building Resources, photo courtesy Steve Cook Jonesborough TN

"Using strawbales to construct a house is a new/old way to use a totally renewable resource which is usually burned, to construct comfortable, healthy, earth-friendly housing inexpensively. Look up strawbale construction for the Canelo Project. The small arched window is a Truth Window, showing the strawbale behind the plaster."