Tag: #energy

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