Where the peak of Shenandoah merges
with the indigo sky, a pastel glow buds
into a new land alive from someone’s colorful chalk.
The earth unfolds itself from its sleepy grayness,
mountain air amber-tinted, wine-spiced.
From the boulder of Buck Hollow Overlook,
yellow-tipped oatgrass and blue flag iris
sway close against my dangling legs, soaped
in the morning dew. Scarlet tanagers hover
like hope pulsing in flaming red.
I close my eyes and feel a light crack
in my grief and regrets and turn them into words
that throb in my unwritten poem, with clarity
like footsteps on a hilly path. When I open my eyes,
the soft swell of mountains is outlined against
the distant sky, the same blue as my cotton
dress waving in the breeze.
Allison Xu is a young writer from Maryland. Her poems and short stories have appeared in Blue Marble Review, Backchannels Journal, Unbroken, Paper Lanterns, The Daphne Review, The Weight Journal, and elsewhere. When she's not writing, she enjoys reading, baking, and playing with her beagle.
