Tracey Stein

Life Lessons

Starfish are spilling

out of the swollen clouds

like cups of rust tipped

over on the summer

asphalt.

schoolgirls play

hopscotch on the playground

outlined in fading pink

chalk dripping with burnt

orange swirls. Mama

told them nothing about

the flow

that will color their sky

red, drowning their dreams

in heat. Mama

shoulda opened her

mouth.