Hopscotch in the Park

by Paul O. Williams and Michael Dylan Welch

First published in Hedgerow #107, February 2017. Originally written 8 May 1995 in Foster City, California, with a few edits about a year later. Paul O. Williams died in 2009.

the raven circles

with a cone of seagulls—

but darker, lower Paul

the shape in the grass

from a fallen stop sign Michael

a circular table

rusting on the porch—

its crosshatched top Paul

hopscotch in the park—

a nun lifts her habit

to leap over the stone Michael

a beetle crawls on the ball

lost at the edge of the field Paul

blowing rain . . .

the maple leaf silhouetted

against the windshield Michael