Neighbor Boys

"I'll spray him with the hose
and you watch
he'll be meaner than ever!"
I hear the neighbor boys plot

"He'll hiss and run away
like a dumb dumb --
I'll spray and you watch
how fast that mean old cat
will waddle!"

They don't know
that the "dumb dumb"
sensed there was mischief afoot
and now sits sweet and happy
purring beneath the safety
of my office chair

How often have neighbor boys
mistaken fear for meanness?

As often as we adults I suspect

Turning our hoses on full blast
and feeling arrogantly vindicated
when our preemptive strike
is met with howl and hiss

It is a wonder the whole world
is not soaked to the bone

11:11

I used to hoard wishes

like a starving child hoards crumbs 

cast off as detritus by others

but precious nourishment to her

No one I knew put much stock

into pennies tossed in fountains

but I would wait and watch

the copper sink to the bottom

planted like a lotus seed 

beneath the gurgling waters

I was the only adult in the neighborhood

who harvested dandelions 

and blew with reckless abandon

(the casualty of an imperfect lawn

well worth the wind-scattered wishes)

A full-grown woman

who counted fallen eyelashes

as a precious treasure

and clocks blinking 11:11

as heralds of a Magic Time

birthday candles were serious business

not just some yearly photo-op

made more difficult as years increased

and lung capacity declined

Partygoers would teasingly ask

"What did you wish?"

I would smile and coyly respond

"If I tell it won't come true!"

Thinking it was a joke, they would laugh

not knowing I held a desperate hope in my heart

And in all of those years
I never dared speak the secret

that I am finally free to proclaim:

Every weed and smoldering candle

every eyelash and sunken penny

represented just One Wish

that came true 

the moment I met You