~ Delta Poetry Review ~

Ben Hyland

Mother-in-Law, First Meeting, Prospect Hill Cemetery

Your hair: crop cut,

summer green.

Trees lean west

when you laugh.

I’m here to brush

your flower anchor

and thank you.

Your daughter

taught me how

to summon

your scent:

homemade

banana cake,

the soft inside

of your Hummingbird

guitar case.

You’d love our house.

When my fingers

stumble through

Free Fallin’

by Tom Petty,

I’m learning to comb

your hair.

Maggie dances,

batter everywhere,

calling to you.

Neighbors praise

our bougainvillea—

its wild, purple

hair. We leave

the windows

wide open for you—

you waft outside—

and the whole town

knows you now.

They pause in the street,

say damn,

wonder what

they’re cooking tonight.

Ben Hyland’s work is collected in four chapbooks–most recently, Shelter in Place (Moonstone Press, 2022)–and has been featured in multiple journals, including Hawai'i-Pacific Review, Penumbra, and Meadow. Readers can connect with him and follow his work at www.benhylandlives.com.