Dream of the Bright, Wet Lawn
by Steven Ostrowski
Some say dandelions
spoil the lawn. Maybe.
Until you get right up
beauty-close.
Isn’t it a mistake
to break your back
over something
that grows so sun-colored
and keeps coming back?
Lay down in the wet bladed green
amid the wavy yellow faces
and have a daydream is what I say.
I say lay down and
overgrow your stay.
Steven Ostrowski is a poet, fiction writer, and painter. His work appears in literary journals, magazines and anthologies. He is the author of five chapbooks — four of poems and one of stories. He and his son Ben Ostrowski are the authors of a full-length collaboration called Penultimate Human Constellation published in 2018 by Tolsun Books. His chapbook, After the Tate Modern, won the 2017 Atlantic Road Prize and is published by Island Verse Editions. He teaches at Central Connecticut State University.
See what happens when you click below.
What surprising, fascinating stuff can you tell us about the origin, drafting, and/or final version of “Dream of the Bright, Wet Lawn”? “Dream of the Bright, Wet Lawn,” in its original form was one of a series of poems in a chapbook-sized volume I am calling Rainlight Meditations. People seem to want to rid their lawns of dandelions, and truth be told, I’ve tried to do the same. But I always secretly wondered what was wrong with them, and found them beautiful. On another scale, the poem seems to be about staying around to try to understand those things in our lives that persistently appear. Finally, earlier versions of the poem used fewer internal and slant rhymes.
Check out the write-up of the journal in The Writer.
Matter Press recently released titles from Meg Boscov, Abby Frucht, Robert McBrearty, Tori Bond, Kathy Fish, and Christopher Allen. Click here.
Matter Press is now offering private flash fiction workshops and critiques of flash fiction collections here.
Submissions
Poetry, creative nonfiction, and fiction/prose poetry submissions are now closed. The reading period for standard submissions opens again September 15, 2025. Submit here.
Upcoming
09/15 • Abbie Doll
09/22 • Karen Regen Tuero
09/29 • Amy Speace
10/06 • Jennifer Edwards
10/13 • Joseph O’Day
10/20 • Carolyn Zaikowski
10/27 • Sunmisola Odusola
11/03 • Sara Cassidy
11/10 • Liz Abrams-Morley
11/17 • TBD
11/24 • TBD
12/01 • TBD
12/08 • TBD
12/15 • TBD
12/22 • TBD
12/29 • TBD
11/17 • TBD
11/24 • TBD
12/01 • TBD
12/08 • TBD
12/15 • TBD
12/22 • TBD
12/29 • TBD