At this point, we haven’t outgrown
stopping on the sidewalk to pick up
feathers. Take this. There is enough
snow today to make me feel that something
will happen. Something always does.
Sometimes it’s receiving a transparent pebble,
to build a fire in the snow, to talk to a fire.
Such a mouthful! It’s a mouthful of feelings.
Remain calm and draw shapes within memories.
I think about how some trees were once
people, how there are roses nailed
upside-down on a wall somewhere I’ve never been.

As of 2016: Ryan Downum currently resides in Lake Zurich, IL and is a recent graduate from Knox College. Previous poems of his have appeared or are forthcoming in BOAAT, H_NGM_N, Pretty Owl Poetry, Witch Craft Magazine, Bear Review, and Reality Beach.

Find Ryan today: instagram