Grass and Marble
There’s a harmonica in my pocket, a spider crawling
out of my mouth and on my backside a lovely long tail
that’s been hiding, tucked in my pants. Instead of arms
I have wings lacy but strong. Out of my belly button
three or four babies spill out, waiting to be clipped
free. On my knees are pastel spongey knee pads
with funny messages in magic marker from
friends wishing me well.
And I will paint myself barefoot lying in a lawn chair—
watching dragon flies land on my chest and thighs,
their different colored stems deep red, navy, baby blue
and watching the sun go down behind tall trees holding
a rocks glass of iced tea with several squeezed lemon
wedges floating at the bottom with sugar not stirred in
properly, sprig of mint, the look on your face when you left.
Mary Dean Lee
Mary Dean Lee’s debut collection, Tidal, was published in April 2024 by Pine Row Press and was shortlisted for the Quebec Writers’ Federation 2024 A. M. Klein Poetry Prize. Her poems have appeared recently or are forthcoming in Best Canadian Poetry 2021, The Fiddlehead, Hamilton Stone Review, Ploughshares, Salvation South, Free State Review, and MicroLit. She grew up in Milledgeville, Georgia, studied theatre and literature at Duke University and Eckerd College, and received her PhD in organizational behavior at Yale before moving to Montreal to teach at McGill University.
