blue hearts on geese

blue wood hearts
glued to home décor
gewgaws
were big in '86
when the King ladies
brought me in
as third partner

wearing a path
to replenish acrylic and
jute and crochet thread
to
the woodwork
shop for wholesale
inspiration
clearing the wood heart stock
quicker than cut;

at 11:38 coast time
on January 28th
in a farm truck a mile
outside Greenfield, Illinois
the radio reported the
Challenger tragedy

and on TV screens for hour
on day on week
billowed the in-flight breakup
smoke plume
looking like a giant Y
at very first

and for months bits of
burnt O-rings
and astronauts
washed ashore

neither the King ladies
or me
could do anything but
watch and listen
and keep
gluing blue hearts
on wood horses
paint blue hearts on geese
crochet heart-shaped
blue doilies

Wanda Morrow Clevenger has been writing and publishing since 2007. She graduated from Long Ridge Writers Group in 2009 with 6 months of nonfiction and 3 months of flash fiction instruction. Mid-way through 2011, the year her debut book published, she ventured into poetry and tossed the rearview mirror out the window.