by Lisa Zimmerman

Our daughter once said I kind of like
my melancholy and I understand how
my longing rides shotgun with my gratitude.
My disappointment dangles her legs
over the wall into Who cares? I’m certain
I love you and I doubt it can save the bees.
Therefore, I will go on loving you and continue
to water the sunflowers because of their open faces.
How they allow bees to light upon them
like the temporary beauty marks they are.

Lisa Zimmerman’s books include How the Garden Looks from Here, Violet Reed Haas Poetry Award winner, The Light at the Edge of Everything (Anhinga Press), The Hours I Keep (2016) and Sainted (2021 Main Street Rag). A Best of the Net and Pushcart nominee she’s a professor at the University of Northern Colorado.