by Paul O. Williams and Michael Dylan Welch

First published in Hedgerow #107, February 2017. Originally written 8 May 1995 in Foster City, California, with a few edits about a year later. Paul O. Williams died in 2009.


the raven circles
with a cone of seagulls—
but darker, lower                                                             Paul

        the shape in the grass
        from a fallen stop sign                                           Michael

a circular table
rusting on the porch—
its crosshatched top                                                       Paul

hopscotch in the park—
a nun lifts her habit
to leap over the stone                                                   Michael

        a beetle crawls on the ball
        lost at the edge of the field                                   Paul

blowing rain . . .
the maple leaf silhouetted
against the windshield                                                  Michael