Sitting outside
looking inside
like the family
dog that always
wants where he isn’t
I watched as bee died
an army of ants
carried bee across
the deck
burly Minnesotans
dragging elk in knee-deep snow
ants carried bee
down the plank squeezed
between boards and
disappeared second by second
subterranean
where it became
something
else

I walk
like a toddler
but I walk
months ago
they replaced
my knee
a broken spring
and today
I walk
like a toddler

It’s his eyes
pecan shaped and
gray like a timber
wolf mesmerizing
that drew me in
like the songs of
sirens
his smile is broad
and toothy it’s his giggle
that makes me giggle
like ripples in a pond
it’s the questions he asks
which tickle me most
they’re silly
little
questions that make
me smile