Laura Donnelly

Ways of Loving the World

I’m back to preferring the rain.
Something to soften into. Softer air, 

softer sky. Every leaf a different
green. Tonight, my jealousy flared 

though it’s tenderer than before.
I listened to others describe weight 

of birth, how it made them love
the world more. And I loved them for it, 

and I hated them for it. I’m sorry.
I wanted to start with the rain 

to soften this resentment. To dilute it
back to a small ache. Can you grieve 

a thing you chose and wouldn’t choose
otherwise? How I love this world. 

There were two stones in my heart
and I kept asking them to balance. 

Now, I take them out to look at them
in the rain. Beautiful, how they glisten,

how they refuse what I ask of them.

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Laura Donnelly is the author of two collections of poetry, Midwest Gothic (Ashland Poetry Press) and Watershed (Cider Press Review) and her recent poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Iron Horse Literary Review, SWWIM, EcoTheo Review, Colorado Review and elsewhere. Originally from Michigan, she lives in Upstate New York where she teaches and directs the creative writing program at SUNY Oswego.