SPIDER
The boy touched the girl’s leg.
It crumbled to powder and sunk to the bottom of the deep end.
Scraps of paper lined the bottom,
each printed with a word she must remember.
THE TRAVELLER IN THE MIRROR
There is a man who has always
lived in the mirror. He is heavy laden
with clothes and packs. He hunches over and walks through a terrible snowstorm.
When you reach out to touch him, his legs fall off.
THE INNER TUBES ON THE BED
The three kids bounce on their
parents’ bed in thick black inner tubes. It is barely day and the walls are
khaki in the half-light. The kids fly and laugh like distant bells. They are
free. This has happened only once, yet is always happening.
— Joan Biddle