STIRRING
Founded in 1999, Stirring is one of the oldest continuously publishing journals on the internet.
Stirring is an electronic quarterly journal.
Founded in 1999, Stirring is one of the oldest continuously publishing journals on the internet.
Stirring is an electronic quarterly journal.
MARY ANN HONAKER
The spicy smell of sun-baked leaves
always recalls to me cigarette smoke,
soothes me down my pilgrimage
to find the waterfall we'd visit
when we skipped seventh period.
First, we'd trek through woods where
sun fluttered on trunks like fairy
lights. We carried our Walkmans
and traded headphones to hear
what the other heard. A clearing
appeared, then the waterfall, small,
smoothly spilling
into its perfectly clear pool.
The new trail leads to two
waterfalls, but I can't find it,
our place, not since they pushed
the landscape around for the new highway.
Maybe it is gone like you are gone,
having chosen the earth's arms
over adulthood. I can see us
perched on the rock ledges,
two misfit kids in all black,
feet dangling over the water.
We've pulled out notebooks
from our bags. You are drawing,
I am writing a poem.
Mary Ann Honaker is the author of Becoming Persephone (Third Lung Press, 2019), and Whichever Way the Moon (Main Street Rag, 2023). Her poems have appeared in Bear Review, JMWW, Juked, Little Patuxent Review, Rattle.com, Solstice, Sweet Tree Review, and elsewhere. She currently lives in Beaver, West Virginia.
