Sarah
Elizabeth Whitehead
Sifting Through Gravel
here
come the good ol’ boys
dad’s drinkin’ buddies
the
ex-husband of my aunt
eldermen who live in the community
men
who work with Dad
men who bring their cars and trucks for Dad to work on
they
pull into the gravel driveway
get out of their vehicles
on
their way to our house
or the garage
their
calloused
scarred hands
reach
into their pant pockets and
pick the pennies from the rest of the pocket
change
in a few flips
of the wrist
these good ol’ boys
scatter
shiny and dull Abe Lincoln heads
among the red gravel in our driveway
three
years old big brown eyes
searching for copper in the red dirt and gravel
the smell of burning cigarettes
and
blue ribbon beer in the air
I
hunted Easter eggs
in a pool hall
I
sat on Santa’s lap
at the smokey Eagle’s Club in Kevil, Kentucky
with the jukebox blaring
Santa waved at the woman behind the bar to bring him another beer
little
girl hands sifting through gravel
big brown eyes looking for stripes and
solids around green felt tables
a
quiet voice cutting shyly through the sound of the wailing jukebox saying
“yes, I’ve been good this year”
looking
for pennies
that appeared in the driveway
like
raindrops-pennies from the sky
or maybe falling like apples from the trees
but they came from the
pockets of bib overalls
and dirty blue work pants
By Sarah Elizabeth Whitehead
Copyright © 2004 Sarah Elizabeth
Whitehead
Kentucky
You
the sky I the earth
the
air anticipates our meeting
the scent of rain suspended
quiet
before the storm
You are sky I am earth
I
find you there
your grey blue eyes
clouds
gather roll rumble with
increasing speed darkening the light of day
the
sky draws nearer to the earth
we embrace in a tender drop of rain
You
the sky I the earth
rush
of wind trees bend sway
deep breaths the air so heavy between us
our
lips meet in a clap of thunder a sudden burst then
long drawn deep
traveling
rolling becoming faint
fainter in the distance
another
crash of thunder
immense
surrounding us
a
flash of lightning
immediate
spreading across the blanket of clouds
fingers
stretch across the sky and
close in a grasp
holding
close
our love
a cloud burst
You the sky I the earth
By Sarah Elizabeth Whitehead
copyright © 2004 Sarah Elizabeth
Whitehead
angelus
voices call
from
home
as I float
from memory to memory
a
champagne cork hits the wall
sadness
hangs
kiss midnight
suspended
home
and
love
the calendar bows
sleep
drifts in
you come
to me in dreams
you tell
me it’s alright
rain
falls clouds stretch
touch
earth yet remain skyward
roads
wind there are no names
for
the places I’m going
today
cannot erase
tomorrow cannot
erase
or dim the
I love you I say
to you
I love you
in this
dream
in this memory
rain falls I stretch
to
touch kiss you kiss
the
forehead
of this new year
I sing
a
lullaby
for what
has been
for what will
be
Sarah
Elizabeth Whitehead
January
1, 2005
Copyright
© 2005 Sarah Elizabeth Whitehead
