Midwestern Holiday

There is nothing
           quite like walking up
to a house with

the front door open,
           looking through
the storm door, into

someone else’s world
           even for just a moment
before entering, before

the aroma of funeral potatoes
           and butter wafts
in from the kitchen, the crack

of a beer, uncle’s
           laughter rising
above it all.

*

Ashley Kirkland writes in Ohio where she lives with her husband and sons. Her work can be found in Cordella Press, Boats Against the Current, The Citron Review, Naugatuck River Review, HAD, Major7thMagazine, among others. Her chapbook, BRUISED MOTHER, is available from Boats Against the Current. She is a poetry editor for 3Elements Literary Review. You can find her at lashleykirkland.bsky.social and lashleykirklandwriter on Instagram.