Silvery Sighting
I’ve saved my allowance for a long time
now, and I’m close to having enough
money for the sixty-four box. Another
quarter, and I’ll have it. On the sidewalk
in front of my house, the shining
miracle appears! Washingtton looking up
at me. It will “Tickle Me Pink” to know
that Missy Johnson has nothing
on me.
there are just the two of us
in this tiny basement world
you have not yet learned to talk
though you just turned three
I am younger
but know how
to interpret everything.
Its tendrils
long
and camouflaged
by surges of activity,
its roots
tenacious
and overpowering
from years of fretful food.
Its blooms
relentless
and sneaky,
flowering unexpectedly,
carelessly casting new seeds
at dawn,
at sunset,
at midnight.
I swing
and chop
and yank
and tear,
but still its nasty buds
poke through
the beaten ground.
Defeated dirt,
this heart remains
the perfect breeding ground for
weeds
such as these.
Long tangled hair
twigs and seed included
cut offs, tank top
racing sun filled fields
to forest floor
Barefeet slip to creek bed
Frog notices the arrival
dives headlong for cover
as she lifts each rock slowly
crawfish skitter backward
hideouts exposed
digging in the wet leaves
reveals a rare find
Black, sleek, red-streaked salamander
wriggling in the hand
in the distance a dinner bell waking her from nature’s
momentary grasp
eyes alight
toward home.
I opened my mouth
To let spill
The last of my meals
And a bitter word
I won’t eat again
When I feed, I feed it
And it grows faster now
Worse by the second
Tendrils wrapping me tighter
Bending me
And laying me there
For them to see
“Are you scared?”
“Would you like to be?”
