All Day Long At The Transient Window Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

all day long at the transient window
I see ghost houses floating
little ghost gardens

with transparencies of roses
sheer azaleas
and a green awning flapping

cheerily in brisk March winds

dreaming to be a kite; a grass green garden
chair where we were told stories beyond compare;
icebox kitchens everywhere with lemon

yellow curtains; attics with creaking tiptoed stairs to
Christmas toys of former joys;
and in the yards and meadows between

the vintage valentines knock sweetly on the screen doors
remember me?
out on a field day and then, colliding
with postcard tinted clouds

not to be outdone at this distance from the sun:
cardboardy paper hearts come sailing back on
unexpected reversals of breeze;

piano scale reveries,

cut out, construction paper sprees
still inscribed in lopsided crayon writing
to someone's Mama,
forever

mary angela douglas 22 march 2015; 27 november 2023