I learn something about life at preschool summer camp
A poem dedicated to the toddler who bit me on the leg
I learn something about life at preschool summer camp
A poem dedicated to the toddler who bit me on the leg when I worked at a preschool summer camp.
~
I am not a child.
I am something stuck between the teeth
of adolescent confidence and adult despair.
This is my first job, and a toddler has already
bit me on the thigh. She senses, perhaps,
this weakness in being,
this herbivore instinct.
~
I had forgotten
about the wild spirit of girls
before they become pruned branches.
But a bow bounces across the room,
a girl hurls a Brontosaurus and roars,
she topples the block tower of another.
~
I pick out the long-neck dinosaurs
from the primary-colored buckets,
and for a moment I want to tell
the girls what I have learned: the
Brontosaurus keeps its head low
to the ground and sways
from one small shrub
to another.
~
But then I tell them something else:
that Brontosaurus necks were designed
so that they could brush their long hair
with clouds and flocks of seagulls.
That every single vertebra giggled
as they hoisted up their head
to help them lick the stars.
~
I want to tell them about fossilized
fortitude, about big bones, about
amber antics, about Jurassic jerks,
about cunning carnivores...
But instead I settle for explaining,
that something so big,
and so mighty,
should never keep her head low.
~
~
~
Thank you for reading!
If you're interested in more of my poetry, check out my illustrated poetry book, All the brooding flowers!
About the Creator
A Failed Artist, A Disillusioned Poet, An Underpaid Game Show Host
I took my son and niece to Gori, a small town in Georgia where Joseph Stalin was born. They talked me into visiting the Stalin's Museum, the largest in the post-Soviet space. I had resisted going there because I just can't stand the monster and know enough about him, or so I thought.
By Lana V Lynx5 days ago in FYI
Comments (18)
Fantastic! Naturally tuned. Congratulations!
Congrats on your tp story.
Beautiful! Congrats on this top story!
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Well deserved Top Story, congrats!
Oh, Bri, this poem is AWESOME! Dinos getting their hair brushed by seagulls...
Awesome writing, keep it up!
Oh wow! This be GORGEOUS poetry lessons! Enjoyed the HECK outta reading that! Gonna have "extra-read helpings." Well-deserved top story! Really hope that you place in the challenge!
Oh, this is outstanding and what a great teacher!
Indeed, this was wonderful. congrats on this top story
Congratulations 🎉
Holy shit, way to understand the assignment and then blow it into the literal sky. Best one I've seen yet.
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A powerful lesson on strength and resilience is delivered.👏👏👏 And congrats on your top story🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
I love the message of this poem and your use of alliteration! Great writing! Congrats on the Top Story! 🎉
Loved every word, especially your last lines. Prostrate yourself to none! You hooked me completely with "I had forgotten about the wild spirit of girls before they become pruned branches." Beautifully written. I trust this is place in the challenge, or at least it should!
that is so awesome and so very wise. it's perfect.
This poem is both beautiful and deeply meaningful. I could clearly picture all this in my head.