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Three Poems  

Kathleen McGookey

My Daughter Asks the Difference between Temporal and Ephemeral

Mist over the field disappears as the sky turns pink.

Sourdough starter bubbles in the jar six hours after we stir in flour and water.

A box turtle ducks into its shell when we walk by.

Neither of my grandmothers lost their phones.

The phoebe sat on her messy nest under the porch eaves for two weeks. Her eggs didn’t hatch.

Chilling in the freezer: five chocolate-covered strawberries on a yellow plate.

Last night, something dragged the dead fox away.

A leather ballet shoe just fits into my palm.

We can bake cornbread and beans for dinner, or swim and eat grilled cheese.

A hummingbird pauses over the flowering catmint, then drinks.

To store cut peonies for later bloom, choose buds soft as marshmallows, strip the leaves off the stems, and wrap in plastic. Place horizontally in the darkest part of the cellar.