The Paddock Review

Skeleton

I have tried to paint the bones and the blue – Georgia O’Keeffe

 

In my backyard, field 

of grass tall as a toddler. 

Knees in dirt, tunneling 

through warm green. I buried 

a lizard here—a green anole—

believing its body would become 

bones. Skeletal. Tiny reptilian 

skull, every limb thinner than 

a toothpick. I lost track of it—

so many years ago. Sink my 

hands into earth, find nothing. 

Instead, ladybugs cling to 

slender stems, beings like tiny 

buttons, their crisp exterior: 

one whole round red bone. 

I cannot help myself: I want 

to crush them. The familiar 

pop, pulp on my skin. But I am 

no longer that child, just a woman 

hoping for lizard bones, 

standing up against sheer blue 

a stain of wings, circling, circling.

 

….

This poem is from the book All That Blue by Allison Field Bell (Finishing Line Press), and can be found at https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/all-that-blue-by-allison-field-bell/