Poetry

“Chartreuse”, “Nature Boy,” and “Dandelion Heads”

by Stephanie Vannello
Image
Photo from Adobe Stock

Chartreuse

I can’t wipe chartreuse
from my brain, ever since
you used it in a game of Uno
twenty years or so ago
and it’s such a bold shade
from the typical green
which makes me wonder
just how bold are you?

Nature Boy

You will make the Pine Barrens
bow their branches
in sympathy and sorrow
when your footsteps no longer
weave through their reserve,
a place you’ve always called home.

The Earth will miss how your heels
buried themselves in the dirt
calloused hands softened
by the lake, to wither away,
flesh, pale as eroded stone,
reddening easily in the Sun,
to decompose under roots and boughs.

Dandelion Heads

The wind carried me like dandelion heads
across the verdant fields of tomorrow,
scattering me and breaking me
so that I may grow from experience
and stand tall, joy becoming of me
in yellow petals – I’m not the weed,
I am the seed, full of endless possibilities.

About the Author

Stephanie Vannello

Stephanie Vannello is a New Jersey native who isn't thirty fiving, but thirty thriving. She intentionally loses herself in the Redwall Book series, has graduated from the Richard Stockton University of New Jersey, and loves a good slice of knafeh. She has been published on Google Scholar, The Cape May Herald, The Black Fox Literary Review, and various college literary magazines.