Dear Fred, My Former Pet Turtle,

I wish you would send a postcard

so I could know that your arrived

where you intended.

I pretended I was upset

when you escaped

from the blue plastic

kiddie pool in the yard.

It always sat under the tree

and killed the grass in a great

big egg– like a crop circle.

I had wanted you to leave.

I asked my father

if you would survive the winter

if you climbed out.

When he said he did not know

I still thought you knew

you would arrive where you intended.

You were a Texas Slider but maybe on

you way down there you

stopped in New Orleans

and fell in love with Creole

and now play your guitar on

a cobblestone street corner.

Maybe you stopped in Florida

at a sunglasses hut

and bought your own franchise.

All I’m saying is of

all the creatures I have

seen I never know one who

seemed to understand so

well where they were going

and where they intended to

end up.

I’ll meet you when I know.

Until then I’ll read your postcards.

Sincerely,

Sarah, the owner of the kiddie pool