I was little then

  My favorite companions were filled

  with stuffing and bits of frayed love.

  I carried them everywhere, tucked

  them into the corners of my bed to

  bury the nightmares. The only hands

  I needed were bigger than mine, soothing

  the sores and wrapping the aches

  with white and kiss. I didn’t know

  about the love others wanted like I loved

  bare feet in minty grass or the taste

  of honeysuckle flowers trailing down,

  kittens perched behind the water jugs,

  pink noses softer than couch cushions.

  But I was little then, when my love was captured

  with the fields of caterpillars

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  and the taste of melting popsicles,

  flavors brighter than sun.

  Younger and wiser

  While my dad was constructing houses

  out of dreams and stone, I would follow

  along, plastic tools in hand, determined to build

  a city out of youth and small yellow nails.

  The siblings hoisted roofs over the lives

  of legos, and our economy rivaled ancient

  Greece and Rome. My bear had sailed the seven

  seas and wore the suit to prove it. Aliens trailed

  behind me, filled with stuffing, little green

  eyes smiling. At night I donned the pirate’s

  charm and interrogated everyone—

  tell me about the mutiny.

  The house was my track, a tractor my chariot.

  We rode till dawn. Our riches grew with every cup

  of cool aid, cherries flowing down the sugary

  river of red. And although I didn’t know

  the letters that arched into words of stories and legend,

  I cracked Nintendo games like walnuts, breaking the shell

  to unearth the flavor of wisdom.