Photo by Jeffrey F. Barken

A Stop Sign A Place To Stop

– Poetry by Lorena Parker Matejowsky –

A stop sign red metal pole

a place to look right then left

leaning someone stopped

too late a woman tried

to stop it did a man try

to stop look three ways

to stop a store that sells

ice outside beside the stop

sign beside the tree the beer

joint inside a red place to stop

to chat to shoot pool stop

and stay awhile the same worn

wood floors worn boots

stop remove your hat hang your

hat herea cold one a place

to rest a red place beside a large

oak tree in Colorado County hangs

a hat inside a store a country

store inside Texas inside a country

men and women inside sitting

stopping cars driving stop look

three ways hanging outside

the tree is outside on the highway

the place to stop and buy ice buy

cigarettes hang your hat beside

a map to the churches stop and

look inside the churches past the

hanging treeshe said that is the

hanging treehang your hat inside

or outside get a map go see the

famous Painted Churches stop

at the red signsomeone saw the

tree stop sign did not see it leans

a little on the way to the famous

tree no famous Painted Churches

in Schulenburg just turn at that is

the hanging tree she said stop

here no don’t stop the first church

hang a left it is famous we missed

it someone must know it is a man

and a woman resting not stopping

it by The Hanging Tree of Columbus

not The Hanging Tree of Clarksville

not The Hanging Tree of Coldspring

not the Hanging Tree of Goliad

not the Hanging Tree of Halletsville

not The Hanging Tree of Kyle

not The Hanging Tree of Orange

not The Hanging Tree of Seguin

but a stop sign at the tree now hang

your hat inside the store with ice

and wood and rest have a nice

day nice drive nice day to stop safely

then look left do not look right do not

look do not look do not look do not

look then hang a left up ahead

the famous tree the famous stop

the famous Painted Churches of

Schulenburg just past the tree.

*After “Blue Front” by Martha Collins

***

Lorena Parker Matejowsky

Lorena Parker Matejowsky is a resident of Central Florida but spent her first thirty years in Texas and is still recovering. Her poetry was selected for the 2018 AWP Intro Journal Prize and Best New Poets 2018 anthology. She is a poetry student in the Creative Writing MFA program at University of Central Florida, where she reads for The Florida Review. She’s on the side of green beans being simmered for a real long time with a few pieces of chopped bacon thrown in for good measure. Twitter @LorieMatejowsky