by Dietrich Balsbaugh
“Northern Flicker”
Gold trim glimmers round
the ominous constellation of black
rent with crimson.
quick loft—
a crisp clear cry.
“The Yellow Suitcase”
The yellow suitcase
tucked in the corner
of this room
tells me you arrived
sometime last night
while I slept.
It also tells me
that you are
someone
who would carry
a yellow suitcase.
“Under the Magnolia Tree”
The petals
once flung wide
to a false spring
lie fallen,
a pink carpet
upon which
a white moth
is struggling
as a hornet
stings her
over and over
until she is still.
Dietrich Balsbaugh is a writer living in South Bend, IN. His poems have appeared in Veritas Journal and Ekstasis Magazine. He spends his free time reading out loud to his family, taking walks with his wife, and birding along the river.
header image: “carpintero de pechera, northern flicker, pic flamboyant” by Eric Carpenter is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
