Maps

7.

Though anything can happen, in my own 
early days of motherhood I tried so hard 

not to believe we weren't meant for more easeful
things. Who was always telling me to be more 

careful, to keep something back; not to spend 
the whole paycheck, not to put a whole sweet 

in my mouth, not to draw open the blinds without
the signal for clear? I wasn’t the only one raised

with these instructions—Pin your hopes high
on the wall, but learn how to carve out a closer

space. Yet the gods, quick to perceive tendrils
of joy, knew I’d point out the hills when they were 

clothed in lavish shades of green; and in the colder 
months, studded with brave breastplates of sunflowers.