The Current Scene of my Childhood Home by Morgan Liphart


The Current Scene of my Childhood Home 
by Morgan Liphart

The bees are circling something
warm and sweet in the yard.
I was something warm and sweet in the yard
once. The sky was the same color as a slow ache
for years, but now it’s blue. Just blue.
Now comes the unfolding of
prairie cones and wild indigos, 
dotting color between the trees
as if nothing ever happened here. 
I happened here.

In dreams,
my memories are something that can be undone,
like a leaf falling upwards.
As if a flutter of small hands, tender and purposeful, 
never struck the sandpaper of a matchbox
again and again underneath the porch until 
everything I knew was black dust.
As if I never believed we could have
started new if just given the chance. 

But, still, now, a breeze
scented chamomile sweeps through the tall grasses, leaves,
past rabbits drifting to their dens. 
It’s as if the land itself was healing, slowly forgetting.
I want to heal too. I want to rush back, 
put my palms to the earth
and say, β€œI’m forgiven. I’m forgiven.”

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Morgan Liphart’s work has appeared in anthologies and journals across the United States and England, such as the University of Oxford’s Literary ImaginationThe Comstock Review, and Third Wednesday. When she’s not writing, Morgan enjoys her career as an attorney and adventuring in the wild spaces surrounding her home in Denver. Her favorite Halloween costume of all-time was her costume as a squirrel that her mother sewed for her in 2nd grade, complete with a paper mΓ’chΓ© acorn. 

Morgan’s debut poetry chapbook, Barefoot and Running topped several bestselling lists and has brought healing and comfort to readers worldwide.

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