In Progress

Going toward fall
the fawn is weaning
tasting the unhinged leaves
discovering the bitterness
of trial and error
while the mama only watches
chewing on her cud
seeing the running
into bends in the road
toward distracted drivers
and hairy bears

it’s hard to know
what mama may be thinking
when she sees a puppy
straining a leash or a duck mama

shooing her ducklings away
from the edge of the street
or a child without a helmet
speeding down the highest hill

she may be just
feeling the cool leaves beneath
her resting body
hearing another acorn
hit the ground free of dread
without a head for mystery

---

Susan Shea is a retired school psychologist, born in Brooklyn, NY and now lives in a forest in Pennsylvania. In the last three years, she has become a full-time poet. Since then, her poems are in, or are forthcoming in Peatsmoke, EcoTheo Review, Burningword, Chiron Review, ONE ART, Sheila-Na-Gig, The MacGuffin, Umbrella Factory Magazine, and others. She received honorable mention in the Passager Poetry Contest. Four of her poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and one for Best of the Net.