She hung clothesline on wooden t-posts
to air dry the the clean linens and clothes.
The mud dobbers would seek shelter inside folds,
sleeves and sheets cast to the wind...Freshness!
Denim dungaree and Levi's big bells also hung
with flannels and cotton memorabilia shirts...

In 1976 after dark she seen unusual stars
in the eastern heavens scraping swiftly across the sky.
They shot out from the north to the south.
Then from the south back to the north.
There are no big cities out east for reflective
traffic lights or fireworks over lakes,
just more farming properties of corn and beans.
Jasper and Pulaski County are very rural.

She seen shooting stars before. Her first in 1966.
Their light always seeming to fall downwards
spraying as they fell through the galaxy
as their twinkling fades as they disperse.
She wondered if anyone ever found a fallen star particle
as she made wishes upon many shooters.
Do wishes ever come true ?
Oh yes they surely do...

But these stars were different.
They spewed horizontally across the sky.
North to south...south to north...
She finished taking the cloths off the line
and then watched the stars shooting back and forth.
Wondering what it is that she sees
while the crickets creaked, and the Owl hoots
and also knowing without knowledge this is special,
since she never heard anyone ever mention
shooting stars that don't fall...

(Written: June 25th, 2010 7:07 a/m)
© Poetess Victoria L. McColley