Clouds cast shadows like hawk’s wings,
Breathing down my neck when the wind turns cold.

The gloom elongates, stretching up the brick walls,
Dimming them so their flushed redness fades to gray.

It brushes a finger down my stiff spine
And my heart squeezes, going ridged as a possum.

Until the sunlight throws its spots down on the walk,
And they lie their like so many stepping stones.

I shake my head, blinking in their brightness,
Reminding myself that it is silly to be afraid of shadows.

*McGinnis is a student at the University of Puget Sound, in Tacoma, with an English major and a Spanish minor. She practices many different types of creative writing including screenwriting, short stories, and poetry. Her screenplay, A Night at a Desk, has been published at Broadway Centre Theater on the Square, also in Tacoma. In her free time she enjoys Agatha Christie and martial arts.