Changing Channels

“Bodice of Nature” by Sarah Jane Walker

These days I look for movies where
older people move to small towns in Italy
realizing they have been confused
most of their lives until the grape vines
start talking to them, and last night
when the reviving man started telling
the leaves his whole story
I caught a flashback of us
decades ago, when we first moved
into our forest house
we were running out
onto the treetop porch
naked holding hands in the dark
after making love, we were laughing
in the slim moonlight, in our mid-lives
and the oak leaves were watching us
towering over us
rustling, almost shushing our frivolity

About the Author

Susan Shea is a retired school psychologist who grew up in Brooklyn, NY, and now lives in a forest in Pennsylvania. Her poems are in or are forthcoming in Chiron Review, ONE ART, Umbrella Factory Magazine, and others. Recently, one of her poems was nominated for Best of the Net, and three poems were nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

about the artist

Sarah Jane Walker was born in Jacksonville, Florida and attended the University of North Florida, where she received a BA in Psychology in 2017. Her body of work usually conveys a story or an expression of a specific mood.