when i was five
whenever it stormed,
i would run down the sun-warmed driveway
heels pounding on the concrete
reverberations echoing in the backs of my legs
as i would crouch down by the pothole at the end of the driveway
and watch the water that had gathered there

swirling beckoning whispering
in a way i imagined must have been like hypnotism
i called it the rainbow pool
(please remember, i was five)

(and, incidentally, the rainbow was gasoline trickling down the curb from the Jeep parked in the neighbor’s driveway)

sometimes still, after a storm
when the pockmarks in the concrete are filled,
reflecting the stony light of the rain-washed sky,
nd the gasoline from the propane tank has bled into the depths,
i think about the rainbow pool
and wonder if the fairies still live there

Mary Montgomery is a rising senior at Lindenwood and is pursuing an English Studies major with a literature emphasis. When she isn’t busy with homework or working at the Lindenwood Writing Center as a student tutor, she can be found squandering her savings on coffee or attempting to write poetry.