Late May, Botanic Garden, Santa Barbara - Leah Browning

I stood in a field of meadowfoam 

an ocean of white and yellow wildflowers 

while a tourist circled me 

with his camera 

and the man from the parking lot

who stepped down from a rented pickup truck

in jeans and a plaid button-down and boots

who reached up at the last second 

to touch his cowboy hat 

uncertainly 

has popped open the collar snap of his shirt 

and tucked the hat under his arm 

his belt buckle shining in the sunlight 

in the meadow of yellow flowers 

where we will spend all summer 

ruffled by the breeze 

holding up our faces

in anticipation 

of bees

and rain 

Originally published in When the Sun Comes Out After Three Days of Rain, a collection of poetry by Leah Browning, Kelsay Books, 2022

Leah Browning is the author of Two Good Ears and Loud Snow, mini-books of flash fiction published by Silent Station Press, and When the Sun Comes Out After Three Days of Rain, a full-length collection of poetry published by Kelsay Books. She is also the author of three short nonfiction books for teens and pre-teens and six chapbooks of poetry and fiction. Browning’s work has previously appeared in Waxwing, Contrary Magazine, Harpur Palate, Four Way Review, Flock, Superstition Review, The Petigru Review, Terrain.org, Necessary Fiction, Poetry South, The Broadkill Review, Belletrist Magazine, Tipton Poetry Journal, The Stillwater Review, and elsewhere.