Ruth Lehrer

Winged woman she

spots me down below

I’m hanging the laundry

I’ve dropped the clothespin

She swoops down and scoops it up

but does not hand it over

What color is the sky? she says

What tree is family? 

I smile and pretend to ponder

while reaching for that clothespin

Carmine, I say, Definitely carmine

She flips her hand away coquettishly

And definitely, Pine, I add

She flaps her wings and my laundry line

waves like energetic clouds 

Pretty don’t you think, she says

Okay, how about Oak? I say. I am getting cranky

Don’t you know? she says, I mean for sure?






A Pushcart-nominated poet, Ruth Lehrer is the author of the poetry chapbook, Tiger Laughs When You Push (Headmistress Press) and the young adult novel, BEING FISHKILL.