Kids
Surge like white water round
Our legs and round the kitchen,
They ram slices of apple-pie
Between their teeth, leaving
Bits all over the plate, then bugger off
To shinny up the plum-tree, giggling
So hard they terrify the magpies,
They dunk bread-bits in their Milo,
Sprint through the sprinkler, shouting
Hell with you and hell with you.
Inside again, they scrinch their noses up
And belch, twice, just as Beethoven
Rises to Nirvana. Kids run everywhere
Wearing grape-leaves in their hair, snot
Dangling from their noses.
Green sap
Simmering their bones, kids
Renew us each day with their shrieks
And questions, the way their limp
Limbs hang over the bed-cliffs, dopey
With dawnlight as we lift them
Up to our hearts, smelling of salt
Tidewater flats, and bread-loaves
Hot from the oven.
for Nicholas and Zofia