September 2022

from Remember the Flowers Winner (Poetry) of the 2021 Stone Soup Book Contest When, at ten thirty you took to Turning the knob of the piano bench, Raising it to your height, And sat on the tattered black, On the wooden floor upstairs, I thought, A good day to play Going on vacation. From the cabinet top, I took down The round blue hatbox trimmed with white ribbons And painted ladies on the side Watering potted flowers In little brown straw sun hats Under the summer sky. Inside I packed ten velvet hats. I took the green one out and put it on. Someone’s something bought it Once upon a time At an antique store. While you repeated Hanon Downstairs, I packed Then lugged my box of hats Onto a white Ikea chair And boarded my Steam train Bound For somewhere. Remember the Flowers was released on September 1, 2022. You can order the book at Barnes & Noble or through our Amazon store: Amazon.com/stonesoup.

from Remember the Flowers Winner (Poetry) of the 2021 Stone Soup Book Contest One day she came to school clutching a long black curtain rod, leaning against it like a cane, looking like a wounded soldier. Her foot was injured— that was all. Hurt in a fall from a towering step stool. We sat on the red-brick wall by the playground, wondering what on earth we could play. Recess faded away from our minds as the rusty red wall became a canoe. Hand in hand we rowed our boat, dragging the hollow curtain rod through our sea of wood chips. The game went on all recess. We visited Italy, Spain, and Korea. Two days later I climbed a yellow step stool. Longing to be like her, I mimed a fall and begged my mother ardently for a metal curtain rod. Remember the Flowers was released on September 1, 2022. You can order the book at Barnes & Noble or through our Amazon store: Amazon.com/stonesoup.