Alison Prine

Abundance

years accumulate

magnolia, hepatica, weeping cherry

all in bloom

boulder, blossom, bullet

beneath the wide blue self-sufficient sky

my brother gave up

stones, shale, a shoreline shifts

we had discussed

his suicide many times before

all of those conversations

moved to the interior

one act became a monument

a landmark

never very far

even as a child

when I climbed onto his shoulders

that monument stood permanent

and heavy in our future

our laughter echoing off

it was a very difficult thing to do

inside the woods, briefly

a carpet of flowers