Sunday, September 7, 2025

Before the McMansions by Mary Kipps

 

Image | Anais Berland

Before the McMansions …


we trekked the coastal hills,

one ear cocked

for a diamondback’s rattle,

eager for adventure

and the sight of Pacific blue.


Our campaigns were planned

in a tumbleweed fort,

perched at the rim of the grand gulch.

Leadership was accorded by age,

and unquestioned; rivalry

between genders and siblings

temporarily abandoned.


We staked claim to the gullies,

digging for quartz

and fossilized shells

from the sea’s ancient journey. 

Our youngest scouts

stretched out their arms in flight

and ran reconnaissance

over the scrubland, their screams

flushing jackrabbits.


Friendships extended

beyond the horizon.

And home was a coyote’s song.


© Mary Kipps


Mary Kipps

Mary Kipps enjoys composing in traditional forms as well as in free verse. A former Pushcart Prize nominee, her poems have appeared regularly in journals and anthologies across the U.S. and abroad since 2005.


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