When Theming the School’s Reunion I Said Timeless

Mary sims

Meaning that I wanted
to begin again. To set the clocks

back three hours: outside your mother’s
garden & to the month that raged on

like prayer. When I knew the sky like a shadow
of your face, the same way we would watch

the crosswalk. It was the second skin of August
& I wasn’t afraid. The roots, yellow,

& anger didn’t know the shape
of our mouths. The earth struck

& you listened to your mother’s calls.
I said your name like a beacon

all summer, waiting for the noise
to catch. You had the wheelbarrow

& more than three names. I grew seeds
across my grandfather’s pots

& imagined our own lives inside them,
shrunk down & pliant. Shorted

& pruned. We didn’t like what we had—
twelve years & mourning.

I melted it down
to honey.

Mary Sims is an undergraduate senior at Kennesaw State University working towards her BA in English. She is a poetry editor at Waymark Literary Magazine and has been published in Glass: A Journal of Poetry, The Poetry Annals, Peach Mag, and more. Currently, she splits her time between working as a student editor, piling her shelves with poetry collections, and laughing over raspberry cappuccinos with friends. Find her on Twitter @rhymeofblue