I am Pretending to be a Mayfly

Wallace Barker

The branches hanging over the lake

Cutting the sky into stained glass mosaic

And the gravel spilling over the banks

Disturbed by the feet of joggers

Drops into the water thereby

Segmenting that clear plane as well.

Everything is grey and brown.

Ivy sags a rotten leaf over the fence

Through which chainlink I can see

Yoga people doing poses in the park.

Each yogi is framed by her own

Chainlink diamond and a toppled

Bicycle stripped of its front wheel

Lolls in the bushes like a crime victim.

I am here for anyone who needs me but

No one needs me and that's fine too.

I am like a bee in a honeycomb

Waxing myself into a hexagonal cell

Hoping I might emerge transformed

Into some new winged insect.

But of course

That doesn't happen for bees.

Wallace Barker lives in Austin, Texas. His upcoming full-length poetry collection is titled Hawk and Dove. More of his work can be found at wallacebarker.com