In the spring, I lean into the blossoms
of a Texas mountain laurel
and inhale the grape Kool-Aid scent
of childhood memories.
The forests stand no chance
against our buzzing saws
but instead offer us rings,
intricate etchings of their stories
and the history of this land.
I drive to San Antonio in the fall,
colliding with a ribbon of migrating monarchs.
Their delicate paper bodies
smash into my windshield.
My grill skewers them.
The next day
their distant cousins dance
around me in my yard.
I watch the atmosphere swallow pollution
and cough up breathtaking streaks across the sky.
Is this what forgiveness feels like?
Lauren Oertel
Lauren Oertel is a community organizer and a consultant for higher education equity. She’s passionate about supporting authors, books, writing communities, and local bookstores. Her work has been published in The Ravens Perch, Evening Street Review, Steam Ticket, The Bluebird Word, The Sun Magazine, and more. She won first prize in the 2021 MONO. poetry competition, she was a winner of the 2022 Writer's Digest short story contest, the 2022-2024 Mendocino Coast Writers’ Conference poetry contests, and a finalist for the 2023 Prime Number Magazine Award for Short Fiction. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her partner Orlando and their tuxedo cat Apollonia.