DOING LAUNDRY

I learned to do laundry in the backyard 
blankets and sheets hanging from clothespins 
like milk, out of the wash and onto the line 
the summer wind and sun the final touches. 

The sun became cancer, the moon a beautiful omen
I grew up and married a beautiful woman;
we listen to the hurried feet of mice in the ceiling 
worry about the heat and the price of electricity. 

---

MISSING THE MARK

The moles on her inner thighs 
seem destined to discreetly collide
as she crosses her legs above the knee. 

But rare beauty lies in a lack of symmetry 
when graceful contact is narrowly denied
like the wings of a bilateral butterfly. 

---

BRANDON MCQUADE is a Canadian poet living in San Antonio, Texas with his wife Jacqlyn, and their son, Nolan. His poems have appeared in BlazeVOX, College Green, Vita Brevis, Rust + Moth, Literary Yard, Elm + Ampersand and Scarlet Leaf Review. His debut chapbook, Bleeding Heart, was selected for publication by Kelsay Books, and is scheduled for print in summer 2021.