Abroad by Laurie Kolp

Beside me someone cries as I watch you make your way through customs. The crowd is thin, most of the others are still checking in their luggage. Behind you a young mother and two wiggling toddlers— the ones cried about. In a text I say you should make friends with them. Quick response: they don’t speak English. You approach the counter confidently, your glowing smile a reminder of my late mother. It seems like yesterday I sent you off to preschool and lingered at the window. Now you disappear behind a concrete wall.

summer shadow—I can almost reach you

Award-winning poet Laurie Kolp is the author of Upon the Blue Couch and Hello, it’s Your Mother. She serves as president of Texas Gulf Coast Writers and gathers monthly with local members of the Poetry Society of Texas. Laurie’s poems have appeared in Maudlin House, Scissors & Spackle, After the Pause, Pirene’s Fountain, Crack the Spine, and more. Learn more about Laurie (@KolpLaurie on Twitter) on her website, lauriekolp.com