Of Dandelions
jurnee Evans
the bright yellow sunshine
of a thousand dandelions
dotting the green fields
ushering in spring and
signalling the start of the warmth
that thaws any chill left over from winter
a childhood of picking the dandelions
that have turned fluffy and white
and blowing hopeful wishes onto the wind
or rather prayers
for another spring
just like this one next year
nighttime in a kitchen glowing gold
under a deep navy sky dulled by citylights
dancing and laughing with someone
turning bitter dandelions
into the sweetest honey
i think i’ve ever tasted
the desire to bottle every moment
fleeting from the words of a song
or the aged pages of a book
as amber dandelion wine in glass mason jars
labelled for when the cold of winter
needs to be thawed again
Jurnee Evans graduated from EIU in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in English, and they now work as the alternate media specialist for EIU’s Office of Accessibility and Accommodations. His works have previously been published in The Vehicle’s 2022, 2023, and 2024 issues, and their play Cruel Nature was produced for EIU’s New Works Festival in November 2022. Jurnee is also a visual artist, avid reader, animal lover, horror connoisseur, and ardent activist, all of which tend to bleed into his writing. Jurnee can be found online as @silhouettecrow and on Etsy with their partner as Dove and Crow Art.