Charleen McClure photo: Marie Thomas
Riders on the Storm
by
Charleen McClure
I was drawn, I suppose,
by touch, which had no color
but pulse
and shadow beneath each stroke
the river pulled through my hand.
my gaze drifted
toward the hills, loosely gathered
like strangers—lilac, cerulean, violet;
looking pass their shoulders, I watch them
thinking of birds on a shore,
waiting for a thought in the wind
to break them apart
to lift them up all at once.
Deanna Sirlin, Riders on the Storm, 2020, Acrylic on canvas, 84 x 60 inches
Charleen McClure is a Fulbright scholar. She graduated from Agnes Scott College with a bachelor's in English literature. She earned her MFA in creative writing-poetry at NYU. She has received fellowships from VONA, Callaloo creative writing workshop, Cave Canem, and the Conversation Lit Festival. In 2020, she was a recipient of the Rona Jaffe Foundation writer’s award. Her work has been published in Kinfolks Quarterly, The Poetry Project, and The Offing.