Excerpt from Thinking Aloud/Allowed

HERE AND THERE

Where is the tiny creature who

throbbed and strained his way out

of my body into daylight

Who, frog-like, clutched at the crib

sheets and later rolled aimlessly

across the playpen pad

Where is the toddler who swerved

around furniture and pedaled

determinedly down sidewalks

Who cast his line into the lake

and built lopsided ladders to reach

tree limbs for a boy's-eye view of life below

Where the trumpet player with

tapping feet whose voice changed

as he became a teenager

Who donned a uniform to cut and dodge

and fake and shoot and pitch and hustle

and graduate

Where is the freshman who chose a

college and discovered daily life without parents

but with the love of a special female

I see them all meandering

inside a manly body sporting

a six-foot three-inch frame

Shaking his head, smiling

explaining to me

Mom, it's alright. I can handle it

Wherever life carries him

a part of him will always be a

tiny creature deep inside me.