My Walk

MY WALK
February 14, 2008

Summer and school's out.
Droppings in the birdbath.
Sprinklers squirting.
Lawns dance with warm-winged
Bees. My white ten-year old arms
Swing at my thin-clothed sides while
I take a walk
Past the Katisha's.
Red Ball Jets rising and falling
Like the easterly wind
Down to the corner.
Late morning shadows cling tight
To Maple boles and
Telephone poles
Catching humidity in their
Black pools.
Kibbled stones kick across concrete
To rest in the deep soil.
I enter the woods
On the parent-free, adventure-rich
Side of the street. Dragonflies
Whirl, flit, dart
The air buzzes.
I fill my container full of
Blackberries. I hold it like a
Treasure
Past the sumac spears
Through the purple clover,
Spiders spinning.
Ponds roil under
Berry boughs
Bobbing in thickets surrounding the
Meadow. Twigs snap. Birds,
Startled, wing away.
I step on a rock,
Slip, velvet shoes soaked,
Matted like a wet mutt's fur.
Now empty berry container,
Polar-white, falls like a star
To the soggy ground.
Splash!
Disappears into the muddy pond. My
Callow heart quakes.
Eyes fill. Lips tremble. Shaking,
Head back, I cry out.
"Nooooooo!"
Sickened, I watch the rim open like
A mouth, swallow the
Murky water. The berries sink down
Down as I lament the
Sweet surprise I had planned
For my breakfast.