Gray to Gray
It is almost like snow.
Fallen downy fragments—
pale, fragile, but still warm,
cooling in slow surrender
to a dry twilight, to the scent
of burnt meat and dust. Powdery,
it clings to fingertips, not truly white
but gray flaking to gray. Why
why
does it not rage red?
[laughing]
laughing
at the dark
you set fire
to a dandelion
and make a wish
—
Desirae Terrien is a speech-language pathology graduate student from Southern California. Nominated for the 2018 Best of the Net Anthology, her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in NonBinary Review and 34 Orchard.