Andrea Carter Brown

45

Some nights I look up to see the sky
unnaturally mauve. Is this twilight
or dusk? I look it up. According to
Funk & Wagnalls, the difference lies
in the degree of brightness. The sun
having set, it's not night yet; this

then is twilight. For a change
the dictionary proves sufficiently
specific to be useful; so often
definitions bounce from hay rick
to stack and back, from diligence to
victoria to cabriolet without giving

a clue what each is. We may be
the last generation able to read
Roman numerals. Does anyone else
remember alternating male and female
hurricane seasons? We mispronounce
gigabyte (with a hard g); how long

before its origins are lost? A little boy
looks at a rotary phone and wonders
how it works. Did anyone ever
catch tears with a tear-catcher?
As for love, we all know how
little that lasts. Gloaming, now

that's a word. Besides the numinous
lavender, what do we have? Velvet black
trees, a breeze sweeping the day clean.