Third Place: Painted Days, #13 by Michele Parker Randall

Winged acrobats of stinging ants swarm over the cool

water of a backyard pool. Though my eyes fail me, used

as they are to over-bright Florida sun, I praise the wind,

the heat seeping into my bare feet, wooden legged pegs

holding cotton arms & shoulders up—saved from flight.

Before the day fades, before I outlive the house, before

my mother sugars violet blooms for a cake, I photograph

pine saplings near the firepit. Thin lemon slices afloat in tea.

Susan’s Thoughts

"This poet wisely reminds us of the beauty of a hot summer, despite everything."

About the Author

Michele Parker Randall is the author of Museum of Everyday Life (Kelsay Books 2015) and A Future Unmappable, chapbook (Finishing Line Press 2021). Her work can be found in Nimrod International Journal, Atlanta Review, Tar River Poetry and elsewhere. A fifth generation Floridian, she lives and teaches in Central Florida.