His eyes explode

gray-green

maniacal

 

Tommy will not let me touch him

I show him a leaf shaped like a bug

For a while

he will fixate on it and forget

 

At dinner his fists surge

I tackle him before they land

We hit the floor

He drags me until we are pulled apart

 

Now he is alone in the field

zigzagging after Japanese beetles

               They are too fast for me.

               I can’t

                            catch them

I ask him to look at me

              Yes you can. They are fast, but we are smart.

We creep up on them until we both

have a vibrating handful

 

Our fists loosely clenched

we go into the dining hall

Open our palms

Release

ten shiny green storming planes into the air

 

 

Liz Grissom