by Rebecca Ledbetter
Sunrise, December 6
This morning the sun is a Pink Lady apple peel, dropped into a body of water.
God, I think, must have discarded it. Either that, or (s)he believes in the old
magics. (S)he might have blown on the peel with a pure heart and thrown it, hoping
the skin would bend and break into the shape of (her/)his true love’s initial. From
the way it hugs the perimeter of my morning view, it looks like the beginnings of a
C. But there’s potential for: G, Q, O. It might be an ampersand; part of a long list
of things to love: the smell of rain, & trees that have shed their fruit, & humans, &
their faults. It could be an S, if fairy tales give safe springs of romantic divination.
Even God might be waiting for something special, every sunrise; every sunset.
Charley Barnes is a poet, author and academic from Worcestershire, UK. Charley lectures in Creative and Professional Writing at the University of Wolverhampton; she is the Director of Sabotage Reviews and the Editor of Dear Reader. In February 2021, Charley published her debut poetry collection Lore: Flowers, Folklore, and Footnotes (Black Pear Press) and she also writes crime fiction as Charlotte Barnes.
Rebecca Ledbetter is a poet and artist who seeks to understand the relationships and interactions we experience every day, and how those connections shape us. Sometimes dreamy, sometimes more serious, she writes the words in a poem in a carefully curated way, much the same way a painter brushes strokes onto a canvas. She received her BA in Communications and Studio Art from Denison University in 2013, and since then has showcased work in Philadelphia, Granville, OH, and Martha’s Vineyard, and currently resides and works in Philadelphia, PA.