It's Still Life

“The course of true love never did run smooth”
~ Lysander in Midsummer Night’s Dream
 
I.
To Melt

There was a time
I’d melt.
An ice cube
In a steam room.
A puddle
For his broom.
For his smile.
But I’ve also had lengthy
Conversations with trees.
 
II.
The Cricket

Daddy always said that boy was
a cricket caught in an air vent,
but that’s what comes
from trying too hard.
You become an itch,
just out of reach, become
invisible, and impossible to ignore.
But I had a weedy heart
when I was 15, and it grew
and grew, and climbed all over
everything. Hormones. Truly.
But every father has his limits,
and one day Daddy’s mood
turned stormy – he chased that boy
down the street rolling thunderous
words at him. And my cricket
was never heard from again.

written for Poetic Bloomings: 3 July – A Midsummer Night’s Dream