The world is square
 Outside my screen door
 Two birds I can’t name 
 Play tag chasing
 Touching, separating
 In the snap of a second 
  
 I’ve re-invented my living
 Alone with nothing 
 Else to do now
 My nose breathing
 The sharp dank smell of aged wire
 Counting the hundreds
 By twos, threes, fours
 Could be the clue too
 Crack open the case door
 Find you holding white carnations
 Your black lab with bad hips
 Limping in a step behind
 Or maybe not
 So be it
 I know not what is
 From what is not
 Standing useless as a coat tree
 In the hall closet
 Frazzled by the blurry world
 Outside my inside screened door
 And oh it is cold
 So very cold
 I push hard for the firm click
 Of a heavy door safely closed.
  
 Carol Oberg began her writing career publishing poetry on greeting cards for Blue Mountain Arts. Her first book of poetry, 'CRAWLING DOWN THE ALLEY TO EASY STREET' will be published this summer (Clare Songbirds Publishing House). She has published in many literary journals and was the winner of the 2018 Heart Poetry Award.