At a loss with what to tell
the children when they bring
their deformed beasts to me
I teach them the word menagerie as
they clear the project table and sweep
up cuttings from the kitchen floor.
We gather without you for another
stiff parade of animals, and I’m embarrassed
to mistake their swans for butterflies.
The sky aligns edge to edge,
a yellow sheet of cellophane,
the afternoon cut and creased
and folded like fractal creature:
a crane inside
a crane inside
a crane.
Oct 5, 2018
Oct 5, 2018 at 4:21 PM UTC
At a loss with what to tell
the children when they bring
their deformed beasts to me
I teach them the word menagerie as
they clear the project table and sweep
up cuttings from the kitchen floor.
We gather without you for another
stiff parade of animals, and I’m embarrassed
to mistake their swans for butterflies.
The sky aligns edge to edge,
a yellow sheet of cellophane,
the afternoon cut and creased
and folded like fractal creature:
a crane inside
a crane inside
a crane.
