A decade when time stood still
moving marbles, jacks, and checkers
on the picnic cloth always tucked
into my vintage wicker basket
casing the outside of the school parking lot
Little did I know it was all a magic act
like when the memory of a scent
school halls brought emotions
that melted my brain
foaming from front to back
A time when I believed
I could be anything I wanted
smelled of enthusiasm
lilacs to bees in the spring
In the eyes of my teachers, I could see
what they thought they were hiding from me
myself and I sensed something was a miss —
a girl from a conservative home
sick to belong, be strong
was the southern comfort as it tore
through my throat
Songs of youth, quivering confidence
that I could make it
stubbing a place holder
by the dugout
with my Mary Jane shoes
Time warp speed of graphic
as they erupt
bloom and wilt
my spirit waivered
oh, how the rivers poured
gullies from my downspout
Base to top
I clung to look up
blinded by my mind’s eye
the bells were stationary
letters dropped in a bottomless post
The id didn’t know ego
where I was headed
back to recall goldenrod
yellow quilts soft as a baby’s forehead
A decade of blissful impasse
fork in the road, meat on a stick
with the beautiful residue that remains
like ruby dust on a jeweler’s bench
marks the place we will meet again
moving my heart to disappear