“Scouts,” a poem by Mary Lou Buschi (poetry, ’04) appears online at Swarm.

We told stories with our eyes closed. Peeled grapes
passed around to signify eyeballs. Cold spaghetti

spilling into our laps—the boy’s disemboweled intestines.

That year, we were making gifts for the elderly.
I had never seen one, an elderly.

My gift was a gigantic corsage, pointy stiff leaves
like stars, held together with floral tape.

We were each given one name—Helen.
The name, a wooden box filled with pressed leaves
and fireflies sliding through summer mist. …[Keep Reading]…

Mary Lou is the author of The Spell of Coming (or Going) (2013, Patasola Press).