Last night, while I lay thinking here,
some Whatifs crawled inside my ear
and pranced and partied all night long
and sang their same old Whatif song:
Whatif I'm dumb in school?
Whatif they've closed the swimming pool?
Whatif I get beat up?
Whatif there's poison in my cup?
Whatif I start to cry?
Whatif I get sick and die?
Whatif I flunk that test?
Whatif green hair grows on my chest?
Whatif nobody likes me?
Whatif a bolt of lightning strikes me?
Whatif I don't grow talle?
Whatif my head starts getting smaller?
Whatif the fish won't bite?
Whatif the wind tears up my kite?
Whatif they start a war?
Whatif my parents get divorced?
Whatif the bus is late?
Whatif my teeth don't grow in straight?
Whatif I tear my pants?
Whatif I never learn to dance?
Everything seems well, and then
the nighttime Whatifs strike again!

If you were only one inch tall, you'd ride a worm to school.
The teardrop of a crying ant would be your swimming pool.
A crumb of cake would be a feast
And last you seven days at least,
A flea would be a frightening beast
If you were one inch tall.

If you were only one inch tall, you'd walk beneath the door,
And it would take about a month to get down to the store.
A bit of fluff would be your bed,
You'd swing upon a spider's thread,
And wear a thimble on your head
If you were one inch tall.

You'd surf across the kitchen sink upon a stick of gum.
You couldn't hug your mama, you'd just have to hug her thumb.
You'd run from people's feet in fright,
To move a pen would take all night,
(This poem took fourteen years to write--
'Cause I'm just one inch tall).

Let life enthrall you
The wind caress you
The sun kiss you
The water cleanse you
The moon soothe you
The wild call you
The stars guide you
The fire warm you
Let all of it tempt and nourish you
Stop judging it and find a way to play
We are all just kids in big people's bodies

Five is the witching hour.
Filled with thick fog, or
Perhaps vivid hallucinations.
Desperate with the need to dream,
Or desperate to wake and stand in the light,
Just creeping up into the inky blue of the sky.

She laid in bed in
her own pity lying
to her own music

A little girl with a
ego so big that one day
it will learn to calm

An angel sat there
Watching her from a distance
Gently flapping wings

She knew if she told
her or even advise her
it would be wasted

on music notes that
would never make a song sing
upon a white sheet

O the sky thundered
Lights flashed on and off behind
a cracked heaven door

Little butterfly
Still a caterpillar no
matter the warm spring

Change will take time but
it's up to a person
to change no one else

The angel grew a beard
Even got a tatoo drawn
To mark her anger

She flew away back
to her peaceful land of
kind gentle kinships

But she never gave
up watching the girl , once in
awhile she flew back

And kept her fluffy
cloud going until the rain
ignored a rainbow

And just like a clock
Tick tock tick tock back and forth
Until an hour

felt like time was a
good Samaritan and the
little girl would kick

back her bed covers
Put on her slippers and gown
And open her door