This morning
I balanced acquisition
on the lop-sided left wheel
of a tricycle
I tucked curiosity
along with my hair
in the nook of
my brother’s baseball cap
I grasped idleness
in the climbing
of a hidden
mulberry tree
I threw adventure
with the flat-edged stones
across the unpredictable
stillness of a creek bed
And when that didn’t work
I wore disappointment
like trees wear leaves
shrugging in the fall
This piece was originally published in Kalliope 2015.
For more information on the author, Laura Nejako, check out our feature on her here.
Laura Nejako is from Lansdale, Pennsylvania and is a first year English B.A./M.A. student double majoring in English and education. She is a Schreyer Scholar and Paterno Fellow and works as an editorial intern at the Hemingway Letters Project. Laura was the 2017 grand prize winner of the Center for American Literary Studies “Wanted” writing contest. Her other publications can be found in Kalliope magazine and in Z Publishing’s Pennsylvania’s Best Emerging Poets.