Anniversary

I fashioned an acre, made moderate
the interior.
Pinned in the crickets with their decent clicking.
At the end of July appeared one animal.

I mustered up a mountain for a view.
The opposing houses shone like
straightened teeth.
They were two storied,

the second ones forthcoming.
At the top of each staircase the door was unlocked.
Inside each house lived one
obedient daughter.

I put the daughter there I put the daughter there.
Not a window cracked its milky
reflection of the clouds. The glass
bowls on the shelves were nested as proper.

I expected the animal to introduce
the next disaster. Its mouth was a cushioned entry otherwise
unpronounced its abundant legs rambled proposing
no use.

I kept an eye on the animal and nothing happened.
The mountain blistered and popped into its plural.
I kept an eye on the animal.
The sky remained, where it was, distant.

The obedient daughters kept their houses neat.
The animal remained the animal except
with ears alert, unrecognizable.
(Sing) My eyes leaked spilly spilly all the way home.

Copyright © 2009 Janine Oshiro All rights reserved
from THERMOS
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission