Hope Andersen
Chalk Messages
The children leave bright chalk messages
on sidewalks that spread out like a fork’s prongs
in our neighborhood,
little, eclectic messages of Hope:
faith not fear,
don’t worry, be happy,
we are all in this together,
decorated with rainbows and big flowers,
birds, sunbeams and smiles.
A child’s way of dealing with covid-19.
They bounce on their trampoline,
ride bikes wearing halter tops and shorts,
missing friends but not school,
the makings of a happy memory,
a time when summer came in March,
and let them laugh, play, gaze at stars.
These are their independence days
of bottle rockets and sparklers, bonfires
long before the 4th of July.
I’d like to be a part of their Bliss
but I am too close to 65.
It isn’t Wisdom that keeps me wary,
or knowing the Facts, because no one really does,
but feeling the Wolf’s breath hot on my neck,
my dead mother reaching out across my dreams.
—Submitted on 04/26/2020
Hope Andersen is the author of Taking In Air (Kelsay Books, 2018). Her poems have appeared in Ink&Nebula, The Awakenings Review, The Pangolin Review, The Literary Yard, and Time of Singing. Andersen lives in North Carolina with her husband of 30 years. They have three grown children, two dogs, and a cat.
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