Wandering Bark                                                 


            Mom was big on phases of development

            It meant she comprehended that
            A five year old would want to 
            Fend off any suitor with the
            Viciousness of a piranha

            And that by ten he’d thank
            Her husband for a day at the 
            Amusement park and take
            An ice cream cone with grace

            Fifteen was a stage that
            Emphasised the sneer and the
            Repudiation of a bourgeois household
            Hot and poisonous as
            Hell –as in 
            I couldn’t wait to get the hell out
            So I could breathe

            Which is exactly what I did
            As soon as law allowed

            That too she understood at first

            Until all hell broke loose
            When I set sail for good

            She was mystified to rage
            By my meandering –
            Perhaps because she didn’t have a way
            To read the stars
            From where she docked

            Looking up
            The heavens may have seemed
            An icon of tranquillity
            Untouched by wind or wave

            But well I knew –
            And so did she –
            That every shining point,
            Circling or fixed,
            Concealed a fire


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            Emanuel E. García, Wandering Bark2013

          author's audio reading