What I Hope We Remember

CULLEN WHISENHUNT

April 5, 2020

In this new normal, where 

we’re living life through peepholes, 

peeking out from lonely bubbles 

built to keep each other safe,

It is still good to venture out, 

to take a walk or drive, remind 

ourselves the sun still shines, 

grass still greens, sky still blues.

That clouds still cling together 

like Jack’s mystic mountains, 

and his treetop dancers still twist 

and twirl lyrical, happy.  

That now is still the time for scissortails, 

sweeping in with the break of spring, 

coming to rest on rusted fence line 

and fanning famous tail feathers. 

That redbuds still bloom, while 

dogwood and pear tree petals 

paint parks and parking lots alike 

like shifting white-sand beaches.

And that road signs waist-deep in wildflowers 

can still be just as welcoming, 

and the wind can still wipe worry-sweat 

from a fear-fevered brow.  

CULLEN WHISENHUNT is a graduate of Oklahoma City University's Red Earth Creative Writing MFA Program, and his work has been published in Dragon Poet Review, Red River Review, and the anthology Bull Buffalo and Indian Paintbrush: The Poetry of Oklahoma, edited by Ron Wallace.