Poetry by Brandy Carter

Photo by Rovin Ferrer on Unsplash

Hydrangeas in Bloom

Old ladies call them
Snowball bushes
Each flower a mass of
Snowflake florets.

Today, though, they
Seem to me to be
A wedding celebration
Weighed down to
Kiss the ground
With an embarrassment
Of beauty. Their
Lacy fragrance light as a veil
On the summer air

Standing under the sun
A place to feel
Hopeful
Joy and expectation.
To surrender to the
Reminder that in
This dark world
There exists loveliness
Purity and beauty
After all. 

---

Brandy Bell Carter is a high school English teacher in Wake Forest, NC and lives nearby with her husband and hound dog. She is inspired by the beauty of nature, bluegrass, Mary Oliver's poems, and the Psalms. Her work has been published in The Wake Forest Review and Y2K Quarterly. Please say hi on X @englishbcarter.