my brother grins sheepishly
he’s 28, I’m 25
I work inside the building
while he paints it
I wonder if he stopped teasing me,
because I’m in here
or because he’s out there
childhood
Poem #764 – worm
I built a fort in the closet,
padded the shelf with two layers of blankets
and laid my body out
I read books until the sun set
and the closet light made my eyes hurt
I flipped through children’s encyclopedias
learning about spiders and elephants
I hid in there
secretly reading comic books
so my family didn’t know I was childish
I grew up in that closet
Poem #763 – wishing for more wishes
my brother set up a system of wishes
10,000 wishes for doing his homework
80,000 wishes for doing the dishes
100,000 wishes for not telling Mommy he was being mean
2 million wishes for getting his food from the microwave
I don’t know where he got his wishes
but I had five
I never could figure out how to spend them
Poem #631
free child
smile without thought
dream without limit