Reality
By Connie Andes

silver lace — summer’s sweet last breath
froths white-blooming on trellis or fence
evoking my little sister kneeling beneath
the venerable vine trained to wraparound porch

she smiles and hovers over her latest birthday cake
in ritualistic pose
while mother Kodak-records the annual September event

an eyewitness, a lifetime later, I ponder which is more real
a sister’s carefully staged photographs
or family pageantry etched forever in glimpses of silver lace

— Connie Andes lives in Lawrence. Poet’s Showcase features work by area poets. Submit your poetry via e-mail with a subject line of Poet’s Showcase to mpaget@ljworld.com or send typewritten (not handwritten) submissions to Mindie Paget, 645 N.H., Lawrence 66044, attn: Poet’s Showcase. Teen writers should submit their work to the 18 & Under page at teens@ljworld.com.