It is perpetual summer here.
The Hawaiian white gardenia diverts my attention and pulls me close.
I shut my eyes and bend forward to smell its pungent perfume.
And I am twelve again.
And chilled as I pass the two lilac bushes to my left.
My black faux leather knee-high boots with the two-inch heels click-clack over the cracks and potholes
of the old establishment.
Our reward is in sight
The case made
petitions signed
The bar lowered
advocating
a female’s choice
to wear Levi’s to and within the Elementary School.
A kinder Spring is in the forecast
signaling the beginning
to replace other outdated rules.
Baby steps on this boomer’s path.
1/30/26
Published by
C. S. De Dona
Author, Poet, Photographer, domestic violence survivor, and naturalized immigrant, Cornelia is currently an Arts and Letters member of The Southwest Florida Branch of The National League Of American Pen Women.
Cornelia lived in Kaneohe, Hawaii, for thirty-six years. Also, seven years in the Mid-Hudson Valley of New York. She now resides in North Fort Myers, Florida.
Her poems and photography are published in print, online, and in Rain Bird, a literary and art journal of the University of Hawaii's Windward Community College (2008-2013).
In 2013, Cornelia received Rain Bird's Kolokolea Poetry Prize for her poem, "Speaking French."
In 2016, her chapbook "Hawaiian Time," entered in the National League of American Pen Women's Vinnie Ream contest, was awarded third place in their inaugural multi-discipline category.
View all posts by C. S. De Dona
Corney Press 