THE STEGER Prize For Poetry
In The Future
by Tracey Vaccarella
Just don't forget ....
Your best friend, whose hair is like dirty sunshine, like cheerios cereal. like
bananas,
playing Barbie Dolls in the backyard
sitting in the old wooden playhouse trading this fruity jolly rancher whose sticky
sweetness melts in your hands
for that Snickerdoodle cookie the color of
fireflies on the warm summer nights
when we used to play in the park,
running around with
the yellow eyes of the mosquitoes
Till it's dark.
And the closet was black
except for the slice of light that shone beneath the door
and I tried not to giggle cause sweaters don't giggle
but you found me anyway
cause of the smell of the leaves
when we piled them so high
that when we jumped in it,
it rained canyons and the
spiced damp
scent of pure bliss
became my perfume,
and you followed it like a treasure map to find me,
the silver wrapper of a Klondike bar around ice cream covered in milk chocolate.
It dripped down our arms and onto the sidewalk as we stomped out a beat for
the ants to
dance to as we took off running
and we couldn't think,
we couldn't breathe
we couldn't do anything but run,
cause you were atrain
a plane
a100 speed car
a cowboy
a cop
a bird flapping its wings taking off into the sky,
Because we were invincible
You were invincible
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