There’s something honest in old walls of pine,

the winding lines, hard knots and shades of gray,

broad streaks of sun-baked orange and dandelion.

I’ve heard some say they wouldn’t change a day,

not one minute of an hour—the walls know better.

LELAND JAMES is the author of four books of poetry and a book on poetry craft. He has published over 200 poems in journals and magazines worldwide including The Lyric, Form Quarterly; Rattle, The South Carolina Review; The Spoon River Poetry Review; New Millennium Writings; HQ The Haiku Quarterly, and The London Magazine. He was the winner of The UK’s Aesthetica Creative Writing Award, The Little Red Tree International Poetry Prize, and the Writer’s Forum short poem contest. He has received honors in many others competitions and was recently nominated for a Push Cart Prize. www.lelandjamespoet.com