I wait at the bus stop on the first good morning in a while
by Callista Pitman
Poetry Contest for Teens Runner-Up, Senior High Category (Grades 11-12)
I wait at the bus stop on the first good morning in a while
/ morning moons / white plates / lost milk teeth /
/ moths with cocoon cling / paper wings /
/ the way the world swells
dizzy / with possibility
/ lungs / tides /
/ the clementine I take from the chipped bowl / small sun in my bag / a memory of sweet /
/ orange as tiger lilies / halfway forgotten in the waning shadows /
/ the blue morning
petals /
/ sky shifting silk / shoes clattering as the bus tilts / and we sway /
/ scattered peels, sugar horizon /
/ this is how we dream / I remember, now /
/ a moon in an imaginary phase. an ocean tide crests from the pavement of the basketball court.
the apartment building crowned with candles. the girl on the swingset holding a tin can of stars /
/ a wayward green sphere /
/ young / bridges / curve like spines over my head /