Cinquains for Quarantine

 MARILYN WESTFALL

May 25, 2020

Bevies

of doves shelter

beneath pyracantha,

blending with shade and river stones,

egg smooth.

Berries

hang in clusters,

eruptions like fire bursts

long contained, miniature suns

to eat.

Leaves wave.

Birds tuck their heads,

pelted by gusts of dust

and petioles torn from honey-

locusts.

Sky turns

adobe brown. The sunroom’s panes

shudder. I remain still,

an onlooker,

nothing

to fear,

calm shadow of a pruned locust.

Come closer. Peck and preen.

I won’t harm you.

Come close.

MARILYN WESTFALL earned a Ph.D. in Literature and Creative Writing from Texas Tech University. Her recent poetry appears online in Califragile and is forthcoming in The Rappahannock Review. She has been anthologized by Dos Gatos Press, Mutabilis Press, and was included in The Southern Poetry Anthology, Volume VIII: Texas.