Turning Six

Marí Peté

Tonight the sea births a grapefruit moon.
Vanilla lilies bloom. The ceiling
goes see-through in her room.

She rises in a wispy gown.
Floats to the pond,
dips in her foot …

then, for the first time,
ever so slow
webs
grow
between her toes.

She draws her breath, glides in –
strange words pour
through the gap in her teeth
into liquid night.

The earth rumbles.
Koi bellies glow.
Geckoes on the wall
turn into rainbows.
Sleeping monkeys stir in trees.
Moles mumble in holes.
Stars tumble through indigo.

In the morning she wakes
back in her bed, slips on a uniform,
shakes silver sprinkles from her hair.

At breakfast her dad grins,
her mom winks like the morning star:
‘You’re old enough now to know.
Remember, though, out there
you’re an ordinary girl …’

For Megan, August 2004

LitNet: 20 December 2005

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