Tuesday poem #87 : Jean Donnelly : Sixteen

                        for Jack

what is this?
soot? sand?
an indefinite
march on
an obscure
mission?

it's a teetering
epic shaking
its fist at
the petulant
atonal whining
of crows

ceaselessly donning
the moodiness
of adolescence

(the era that nails
in a panic at
nakedness)

hawks & worms
& lichens build in
the day beside
the inaudible
chortle of doubt

it is no reach
to say I long
to protect you

clothed or bare
with safe hands
& all the small
words we
no longer hear

don't forget your
house key or
to let me know
when you arrive

Jean Donnelly is the author of Anthem (Green Integer) and Green Oil (Further Other Book Works, 2014). She lives in Exeter, New Hampshire.

the Tuesday poem is curated by rob mclennan