Samn Stockwell
Comparative Pastoral
The length of the blue house faced two small apple trees
and an abandoned tennis court, cracked with dandelions.
The driveway cut to the steps of the porch,
spitting gravel into the flower beds.
The length of the yellow house faced the ocean
and the sound of the ocean came into the house
from the slur of water between grains of sand
to the thud of waves against the retaining wall.
The windows smelled of salt.
More glasses of lemonade and iced tea were left in the blue house,
more used towels thrown on the floor. And in the garage, beside old boots,
were the sole loves of someone who had only happiness to blame.
About the writer:
Samn Stockwell has been widely published, and her two books, Theater of Animals and Recital, won the National Poetry Series and the Editor’s Prize at Elixir, respectively. Recent work has appeared in Gargoyle and work is forthcoming in Plume and others.
Image: The Blue House by Guy Rose (1867-1925). Oil on canvas 59.69 x 73.03 cm. Circa 1910. Public domain.
