Ute Carson
Over the Green Divide
A man stands, arms tightly clenched across his chest,
and the child retreats.
The man opens his arms wide like wings,
and the child jumps into his embrace.
A woman shears the hedge between backyards
as a neighbor ambles up on the other side.
Their words pass easefully over the green divide.
When a boy throws a rock hard against a wall,
it boomerangs back and hits him.
When he skips a flat stone across a shallow creek,
droplets lightly sprinkle the water’s surface.
A girl from here meets a boy from there
on a bridge spanning a great river.
They talk and laugh and touch,
surprised at how much they have in common
and enchanted by their differences.
Ute Carson is the author of the poetry collections Just A Few Feathers (PlainView Press, 2011), Folding Washing (Willet Press, 2013) and Reflections: New and Selected Poems (Plain View Press, 2018), as well as novels and numerous stories and essays. Born in the Polish city of Koszalin, Carson fled her native city during World War II, settling in Germany before coming to the United States in 1962. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband. They have three daughters, six grandchildren, a horse and a number of cats.
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