She’s building you paper kingdoms today,
practical shrines, as she practices
your figure in the alphabet
over and over in wobbly orange crayon.
I show her your form in strict black ink,
and I notice your rigidity—
steady straight top soldered
to your ramrod spine.
But your curved belly reveals
you were meant to cradle things:
water, sweet apples, the tiny buttons of a spine
holding together a whole dark universe.
Raleigh Review 2010
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