GHOSTS OF SUMMER

JENNIFER SKOGEN

Mountains bleed such clear water.

The ghosts of summer lay down at the mouth 

of the spring. You can rest, they remind the forest. Cease 

your striving toward the sun and remember how frost 

weaves such delicate slumber. Berries are sweeter

after kissed by the cold. 

Leaves tumble down, embroidered by time’s passage, 

bright stitches quilt blankets for ghosts. Spiders join them,

adding their own nets of starlight and yearning

to insulate against snowfall. Against hunger. 

Against restless, aching dreams of May. 

Jennifer Skogen is the author of The Haunting of Grey Hills young adult series, and her work has been featured in Lady Churchill’s Rosebud Wristlet, Green Ink Poetry, Bowery Gothic, and Tales from the Moonlit Path. Jennifer lives near Seattle, Washington, and hikes in beautiful places whenever it isn't raining.