We are plodding up the hill to the school’s playground
and the three-year-old who peers through his black
ringlets to see the world is holding my mittened hand,
is interrupting my answer to ask his question a third time;
I will inhale slowly, answer him evenly, the same way, hoping this
time he will let it sink in. For real. We are walking through clouds.

—
Meghan DePeau’s work has appeared in Right Hand Pointing, One Sentence Poems, Connecticut River Review, Common Ground Review, and Freshwater.  She won CGR’s annual poetry contest in 2016.  She also received the Outstanding Young Poet Award and won the annual writing contest at Manchester Community College in 2016.