At 3:27 I fall in love with crenellations on a stoplight and the strict angles of its stanchions. A child hurtles out of a waiting school bus, dark hair pulsing. Light splashes gulls, blinks their breasts bright white, their shining celestial bodies. They flap past orbs and palmettes glowing on rooflines. Tips and nodules of branches shine. Flying toward me— signs and mysteries—ebony jewelwings mating in air. Coupling, they arch their bodies, a dented circle, not really a heart. This minute is paradise, sun burning the asphalt of Garwood Road.
Barbara Daniels is the author of four chapbooks and two books of poetry. Rose Fever was published by WordTech Press. Her second full-length collection, Talk to the Lioness, was published by Casa de Cinco Hermanas Press. Her poetry appeared in Permafrost, Westchester Review, Coachella Review, and elsewhere. She received four fellowships from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
