Just before

A four word prompt: This was just before. An older poem that has me thinking about things. And look, me in 8th grade I think, based on the choker. 

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This was just before.
This was just before star fall.
Kelly stepped onto the lawn
and the owl flew so close her hair
was brushed by wingbeat.
This was just before
we crossed the lawn listening
to the horses cropping new clover.

Watching over Mount Chief Joseph
for UFO’s, signs, fresh frontiers.
This was just before bats darkened
the horizon, covered the red glow
of the fading sun with shadow
their voices a chorus over the fallen alfalfa.
This was just before that
while we were still inside
our heads together learning a Druid chant,
our bare legs thistle and sun burnt,
our faces sun bombed and our arms
covered by mosquito bites and cat scratch.

This was just before her parents moved away
leaving her and her sister and brothers in the care of the hired
wrangler – so no care at all. This was just before that
when summer stretched forever full of horseback rides,
swimming, the annual fair, the rodeo, the long sunsets
green with the dust of harvest.
This was before that.
This was just before high school.
This was just before then.