reward

Poetry Thursday is endlessly rewarding. Not only are the writing prompts substantial, but the good results from among fifty or more poetic responses are ample.

This week's prompt was to use a line of poetry offered up by a Poetry Thursday participant. My inspiration is sharala's line about the snails. Thank you, sarala, for your generous gift. I hope you like how I've repackaged it.



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reward

few girls spent afternoons
huddled in the yard
crushing snails against stone*
smearing the bulbs of fireflies
on the pavement
multiplying the sun
against a defenseless ant
peeling off the wings
and legs of locusts.
but singly
for boys we liked
we would drop a worm
down our shirts
and contain the squirm
then go home and shiver
in the bathroom
repulsion tempered
by the reward
of sweet boy smile.

our perverse entomology
left on the playground
some boys still plot
against the weak
but girls have gotten better
at playing them
and though the reward
remains brief
sometimes we don't squirm
sometimes the worm
feels a little groovy.



*From Sharala's poem, "Tiara."