Purr -Under an Ash by Doug Tanoury

I sat with her
Under the shade of an ash
Watching the afternoon sun
Sink toward setting as
Evening spreads
Across an August sky
Like a picnic blanket Cast on summer grass

And I feel I’m the first
Man and she the first
Woman for there is nothing
In the world but her and I
And leaves turning
Faded green undersides up
In the breeze and the
Grass trembling slightly

Lying in the shade
At this edge of summer
The object of all my past
To bring me to one moment
Under an ash for
God so loves creating beauty
He trades whole lifetimes
For splendid seconds

I chew a grass blade
And touch her arm
Watching the sky from
Beneath a canopy of leaves
And searching hard
For purpose and
Reason for the rest
Of my life

Doug Tanoury, grew up in Detroit and still lives in the area with his wife and three children. Doug has been published in Writer's Digest, Ego Flights Alura Quarterly and A Year On The Avenue (Two Dog Press). Online he has been published by The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Eclectica, Poetry Magazine, Agnieszka's Dowry, Recursive Angel, The Astrophysicist's Tango Partner Speaks and others. The greatest influence on Doug and his work was the 7th grade poetry anthology used in Sister Debra's English class: Reflections On A Gift Of Watermelon Pickle And Other Modern Verse, Stephen Dunning, Edward Lueders and Hugh Smith, (c)1966 by Scott Foresman & Company.