Quitty Prickly

 January 2023 Bookclub

Night of Nesting Dolls                                                                    Bren Simmers

Night of nesting dolls,

many layers held

inside this one:

cocktails on the balcony,

supper at eight, the after-

dinner doubles games, 

while kids pump legs

on swing sets. 

At sundown, an old man

shuffles three times

around the park. Nightly,

I've started to look for

his cross-country gait,

tan paperboy cap, 

started to call him ours.

Then falls the deep blue

scrim and the few 

stars we can spot

amid shipyard cranes

and lights on Grouse. 

So brief,

the smallest doll 

is sleep.

Lines for Little Mila by Norman Dubie

Free Beer by  Diane Seuss