HOW IT ENDS

Callan Latham

University of Iowa

And the pond gets too high And the water has yet to come And it has not rained for at least a week And the tulips in the living room And they have died like quiet mouths And they haven’t even bloomed in the ground And they are put away like caskets And the river cannot be a mirror And the silver balloon is stuck in a tree And the marsh marigolds will drown And it will stain the sky like skin And nothing will breathe on its own And it will all start coming back And dead branches will bloom And feathers will start to replace snow And none of it will matter And the laundry isn’t done yet And knuckles are getting too pale And morning streaks like a pond And the pond is losing its shape