is like checking in 
with an old friend 
you find drowsing 

on a porch swing 
in a house along 
the storied river. 

It seems years 
since she’s even 
run a comb through her hair, 

but she offers buttered scones 
and reheated coffee 
that tastes better 

with each successive sip. 
You warm 
to her lilting voice 

sharing stories 
as you walk along 
the mossy path—

tales you knew 
so well once, 
and yet, 

hasn’t their meaning 
shifted ever so slightly, 
like the light 

through the willows 
you walk beside 
in the advancing afternoon.

Steve Deutsch

lives in State College, Pennsylvania, and is the author of two books published by Kelsay Press: a chapbook, Perhaps You Can (2019), and the full-length Persistence of Memory (September 2020). His recent writing has appeared or is forthcoming in 8 Poems, Boston Literary Magazine, Burningwood Literary Journal, Louisiana Lit, MacQueen’s Quinterly, Rat’s Ass Review, Ravensperch, The Mark Review, The Muddy River Poetry Review, and Third Wednesday.

His work was nominated in 2017 and 2018 for the Pushcart Prize. His previous publications also include Algebra of Owls, Better Than Starbucks, Biscuit Root Drive, Borfski Press, Eclectica Magazine, Evening Street, Flashes of Brilliance, Ghost City Review, Gravel, Linden Avenue Literary Journal, Literary Heist, Louisiana Lit, Misfit Magazine, Mojave River Review, New Verse News, Nixes Mate Review, Panoply, San Antonio Review, Softblow, Streetlight Press, The Blue Nib, The Broadkill Review, The Drabble, The Ekphrastic Review, The Write Launch, Thimble Magazine, and Word Fountain.

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ Poet, in Eclectica Magazine (Volume 22, Number 2, April/May 2018)

⚡ Flotilla, first published in the anthology Weatherings (FutureCycle Press 2015), and later posted on Sarah Russell Poetry (16 June 2018)