Heather Hughes

ASK AS SOFT

ask as soft
as you – grass,
wall, lightning –-
all yes. all ambulance.

most. first. harder.
the conditional all
in sleeveless summer –-
accidental electric yes.

drastic like heat
-sheet- cloud to cloud;
likewise seasonal.
mostly chance

that you could stoop
to love,
as you love gravel-
voiced men and delicacy.

Heather Hughes works for a variety of literary journals and her poems have recently appeared in Grain, Saw Palm, and Prick of the Spindle. She would like to thank MAB for this one.