"Adirondacks for Two" by Ruth Zachary

At the edge of the property
far from house and telephone
we lounge in two green Adirondack
chairs by a tall hedge.
Behind us redbud, butterfly bush,
a crape myrtle frilling white.
Down the blackberry slope
in front the creek gurgles
over round stones. Its cool breath
rises, blends with a breeze
from the south, drifts across
our summer-hot skin.
In this haven of leaves and flowers
I watch lines on your forehead
smooth, ease away.

BIO: Patricia Wellingham-Jones, a former psychology researcher and writer/editor, is a three-time Pushcart Prize nominee. She has work published in numerous anthologies, journals, and internet magazines including Möbius, Poetry Depth Quarterly, Phoebe, A Room of Her Own, Visions International, Red River Review, Tiger's Eye, Horsethief's Journal, Midwest Poetry Review, Creekwalker, Rattlesnake Review, Nanny Fanny, Taj Mahal Review, Niederngasse, and Thunder Sandwich. She edited River Voices: Poets of Butte, Shasta, Tehama and Trinity Counties, California and Labyrinth: Poems & Prose. Joining the chapbook, Don't Turn Away: Poems About Breast Cancer, are her collections, Apple Blossoms at Eye Level, A Gathering Glance (#43 in the Lummox Press Little Red Book series), and Bags. She was named Featured Writer for March/April 2002 at www.OutStretch.net, in August 2003 Purse Stories (www.PurseStories.com), in Autumn 2003 Tiger's Eye, and March 2004 Long Story Short. Her winning poem was set to music in the SongText Contest, 2003 (www.songsforall.com). Recent awards include the Reuben Rose International Poetry Prize (Israel) and Surprise Poetry Slam Grand Prize, Apollo's Lyre (www.apolloslyre.com/). Her website is www.snowcrest.net/pamelaj/wellinghamjones/home.htm. Email: c/o Moondance (Photo credit Rick Jones)