Waves of Physical and Emotional Growth
Crystallized by her mothers matter
from photographs with wavy edges and handwritten baking books.
Each parent took a tiny palm, picked her up and swung her over curbs.
When her mother refused to wait in lines long for rainbow
sprinkles the toddler’s tantrum was spurred.
She learned to tie shoelaces on black patent shoes in Bloomingdales
where the sales ladies asked if her seaside eyes
were purchased in their department --
Swung years away on that hammock out back,
nestled in between pineapple palms.
Placed her turtles in the pool and her bunny on the grass
where neither should have ever ventured-
In time her mother realized, she should have had another,
noticed her child could relate to adults, but not to other children.
Layers of neon Band-Aids were patted on the pain of loneliness.
She wrapped her retainer in a brown paper napkin.
Paced back and forth- those girls, sky high buns and palms clasped to palms
in front of a dreamy man’s eighth grade classroom, his song was their psalm.
Jet-skied through journalism with too silvery a giggle and an inexperienced
pulsating mind, two friends shared a book of “spiteful to survive” letters.
Childhood made up in shades of sherbet,
we kicked our awkward chicken legs.
