If you travel to escape the small lizard on your back You will eventually be outside your parents’ house Only they have long since go Someone else lives there; perhaps a child sleeps in your bed Dreaming your dreams You walk down a street where you used to play But no one knows, and the sense of loss overwhelms you Swallow hard not to cry because your memory is untrue. You left to get a small-minded town, poverty, and screams In the night, but it was worth going back to remember what An awful place you left. I have a small lizard in the kitchen; I have tried To **** it because it is grey and without redeeming colors that Could make it into a pet, but it is too quick and hides in corners I can't reach so it can live for now.