It rained hard and steady all through lunch with a friend.
None of the usual ten-minute shower chased
by full-out sun. Deep puddles cobblestone the ground.
Returning to my car, I must cross a wide wet patch.
Reluctant to soak my new red shoes, I eye
a concrete bar on my right, rising above the water.
So here’s the plan: Step up with right foot on said bar,
balance there, then step across with left foot
to drier turf. Surely I could have landed that maneuver
two years ago, maybe two months ago. Today, balance
I did not. My red flats were the least of what
got drowned–pants, coat, backpack, doggie bag. Ego.
Carol’s poetry appears in over ninety journals and three chapbooks: “Out of Southern Africa,” and “Chronicle of Dog” (FinishingLine Press); “Of Water” (Peterborough Poetry Project). She paired poems with her husband’s photographs for four coffee-table books. (www.DualArtsPress.com) A psychotherapist, Carol’s book And Baby Makes Three explores emotional transitions to parenthood.
