#12

as you try to stand on your toes
your head barely touches my chin
I could lend you my commas
to use as stilts or just lift you up.
Bending low might be easier
.
But I prefer to wait till you get tired
and fall
into my arms

Maybe

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e e cummins

#11

a little girl twirls clockwise
and the pink-crystal-studded-knee-

length-skirt wraps
around her in an embrace. Suddenly
she stops and turns in front of the mirror, tiny dancing
stars stand still and fill the room
shining bright. Her hair bounces
with glee
.
fifteen years have passed and the walls
still glow from the refracted light of the shattered glass window
the living room is filled with half opened books and
scattered flowers. A couch next to the piano
partly covered by a quilt sighs
as she lays down
.
in the yellow house on the hillside hidden
among wild camellias
the not so little girl with winter on her toes
reaches out with her eyes closed
.
As her fingers trace the familiar ivory
a melody erupts and she is taken back
to her childhood; the first
wet rings on the mahogany
the first drifts of blue smoke