So we sat and waited for ducklings to
cross the lane. Unlike before, the wet was
dry. I knew we would see nothing, the part
of our lives which had brought us to witness
the downy balls on little webbed feet now
over, stored in albums. That’s what we did
then, lined ourselves up on some pages. We
labeled each one though we thought we’d always
recall. Here under the sun, the leaves not
quite unfurled on the branches of the trees
so their bark looks like pale skin, I check my
phone for a signal, the place where all my
pictures are, for I have not yet learned how
to migrate them, something children seem to
understand instinctively, ready in
an instant should something announce itself.

*

Sandra Kolankiewicz‘s work has appeared widely over the past 35 years, most recently inAppalachian Heritage, BlazeVox, Gargoyle, Fifth Wednesday, Prick of the Spindle, Per Contra, Prairie Schooner, Appalachian Heritage, and Pif. Turning Inside Out won the Black River Prize at Black Lawrence Press. Finishing Line Press published The Way You Will Go. Blue Eyes Don’t Cry won the Hackney Award for the Novel. Her novel with 76 color illustrations by Kathy Skerritt,When I Fell, is available from Web-e-Books.