Pushing Forward

I imagine summer time as a collection
of moments where I would sit still,
watch his small fingers
work on a water color of race cars in the desert,
look at the way she cringed at the palm-eyed beast
from _Pan's Labyrinth_,
and see him set under the giant shade tree
waving to me in the breeze.

I'm reading dave eggers' _what is the what_ and perhaps you should too. He is kicking and screaming for us to hear him.

A Bomb Threat

The little head dangled from the keychain
attached to his back pack; his father had helped
him sew the princess' eyes shut.

"Do you know Jesus?" the principal had asked
with a sheriff standing in the corner.
"Keep your voodoo at home."

He stumbled back to geometry,
closed the Tolkein paperback he had been hiding,
and buried his head in the crook of his arm
where no one could see him cry.

Grave Etchings

They chose "MOTHER" to start;
one side yellow, the other violet.
We knelt down and rubbed the oily pastels
onto the parchment paper.
The fine details did not emerge as I had hoped,
but the experience was well worth it.

We Need More Words

You showed up;
finals week and all, I answered the door
and noticed you standing
with bruises wrapped snuggly around your calves.

Then you showed me the star burst on your hip:
blue and yellow rings. You laughed about a canoe.

I settled back in my chair and longed for the tree
outside my window, turning leaves upside down in the breeze.

For me, the yellow stains.

A Fawn Under the Scab Apple Tree

Hope she finds her mother tonight;
if not, we'll be calling a ranger tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, what has my tree been doing
to get scab?

The Kissing Disease

My blood tests are back and
it has been determined that I am indeed a slug.
A sloth.
Yet with good reason: mono.

What student passed this infectious
disease to me? And how?

Do I suddenly feel guilty for not taking their
mono seriously enough? Sortof.
I can barely get off the sofa.
Barely grade finals.

So this is what those students were trying to communicate to me?

Please, share your mono story with me.