"Life and Pandemic" - Spring 2020

Rattler, and Other Things I Remembered
old bicycle frame, how are you these days
lean and limber as i remember
back when our scarves doubled as our belts
we’d share secrets like only you
knew what noises baby sparrows made,
only you knew that peanut butter
and cheese was some kind of ambrosia,
where the bb pellets went after
the colorful trenches were dug up and then
smoothed back over again.
dear old frame, you work and that in itself
makes me want to duck and cover
till the little red welts are stickers peeling off
of my overripened skin, tell me
why did we all stick our fingers curiously
in the same nest, go trudging all
safari-like through the same tall grass?
quick and trembling as the tiny
body packed with venom and derision
fueled by one too days that cut it
just a little bit too close, bent wire met
bent body and i’m scared was
the only thing you could understand.
Kristen Chastain