all august the locusts
complained
as I dragged my doll
about the yard
waiting
for something to happen

like my grandpa
riding me on his shoulders
up the winding staircase
of their white Victorian home
singing

oh my darlin’
oh my darlin’
oh my darlin’
Clementine

or my grandma
riding down the winding drive
in their model-t ford
scarf a-flying

Mary Lu Fennell
Empire, Michigan, USA

Winner of the Dunes Review William J. Shaw poetry prize, 2003