Growing Up

I thought growing up
Would be an unwanted chore
Like picking up socks, or washing dishes
I thought it would be hard work
That you do
Only
When everyone is looking

I thought growing up would be
too expensive
and costly
Full of things I did not want to give up
Like wedgies
And cuddles
And silly giggles

I thought I would just do it
When the time came
And when the time came
I would know

I would be ready
I would be grown up
And contained
I would smile at appropriate things
And not be afraid of big dogs

The time never came
And growing up creeped up on me
And greeted me from the inside

She arrived like an old friend
With no luggage at the door
Just a smile
And an urge to let her in.

After the Vet

How do you make the cat
Stop licking her wound?
The one with the pus
And icky stuff oozing from the side

The one you want to look at
Because it is so repulsive
And you can’t imagine
Having anything so imperfect
Living right under your skin

Or maybe you can

Maybe you can remember that
Scab
You kept picking on

The bike ride
Gone terribly wrong

The miscalculated brave jumps
Of our youth
That left reminders
Of how fragile
And resistant
We can be

And so we unravel the gauze
And rub her belly and back

She takes it all in
Until she lets go of the need to
Lick the wound that
Screams for attention

In our living room
She notices
Here, too, we are calling
And the choice she must make:

which voices to tend to
And which urges to tame