Alive like a stream
When I was Lainey
I played with iron shavings—
scattered them all across
the Formica countertop
Mama handed me the big magnet,
lucky horseshoe-shaped.
I gasped as the slivers danced,
alive like a stream, drawn to me
I felt magical
God-like, even.
Delighted, oh so
powerful, but then:
I developed a tiny crack
my power faded
my magic leaked out, powdery, invisible:
on my bureau, my bed, my scarred desktop—
I was scattered.
No magnet in this world
powerful enough to
pull me together.
Powerless,
I drank poems to survive
dug up feelings sweet as
winter carrots, strong as
hurricane winds stirring up
long-missing particles
suddenly magnetic, moving fast
dancing home
in torrents, laughing
the way running water laughs,
the way Lainey laughed, magnet in hand,
so long ago
eeo 