offspring

what if i was someone
else's daughter?

if i walked out 
into the scraggly grass
of the backyard

the house on franklin street

two-year-old hands
ripping out dandelions 
& daffodils--

if barefoot & kidney bean toes--

laughing at the buzz of carpenter
bees as they ate the garage--

they carry me away--

biting the back of my t-shirt
to bring me home to the hive--

if you peered out the
kitchen window to check
on me & i was gone--

how long would you
have searched for me?

i don't ask out of malice--
i just want to know 

how long it takes to become
something else's child--

maybe it would be the herons--

they'd watch me from the creek--
dipping bills in water--

waiting for the right moment
to put me on 
their backs & dash off--

would they teach me
how to have long legs?

would i acquire a taste
for river fish or 

would i chew pond scum  
in protest?

maybe the wolves--

oh yes maybe the wolves--

like those little girls they
found Bengal India

are we feral girls?

i think i would have 
taken to the wolves--

the ones that lingered
near the rail road tracks--
escaped from the surrounding
mountains 

all fours-- i might have
gone willingly--

teeth growing into thorns--

oh mother & father forgive me

i cannot help the wild 
onions in me--

spine contorted--

what kind of poetry would
that leave me?

& when the leaves turned
in autumn &
you gave up searching for
me would you
hear the wolves howling
& think that maybe i
had been eaten--

or maybe it was the
sigh of a passing train--

i like to think 
i'd be the same boy

carpenter bee born
heron son--

beaks & stringers--

what off spring will
they make of my body--

it's not too late
you know?

i'm not little anymore
but there's always going
to be the mountains
to crawl back to--

always the train tracks 
that remind us

that our own bones resemble 
step ladders--

if i disappear  
don't look for me--

leave my room empty 
to fill with bees & lady bugs 

& when the moon is full
& my tall legs 
dip in the creek 

you might hear me--

the mountain off spring 

the boy-girl of reeds & grass