Life During Wartime: The Venus Flytraps (#17)

warning! do not ingest!/nature's cruelty unjust

Venus'-flytraps

I am five,
Wading out into deep

Sunny grass, Unmindful of snakes
& yellowjackets, out

To the yellow flowers Quivering in sluggish heat.
Don't mess with me

'Cause I have my Lone Ranger Six-shooter. I can hurt
You with questions

Like silver bullets. The tall flowers in my dreams are
Big as the First State Bank,

& they eat all the people Except the ones I love.
They have women's names,

With mouths like where Babies come from. I a five.
I'll dance for you

If you close your eyes. No Peeping through your fingers.
I don't supposed to be

This close to the tracks. One afternoon I saw
What a train did to a cow.

Sometimes I stand so close I can see the eyes
Of men hiding in boxcars.

Sometimes they wave & holler for me to get back. I laugh
When trains make the dogs

Howl. Their ears hurt. I also know bees
Can't live without flowers.

I wonder why Daddy Calls Mama honey.
All the bees in the world

Live in little white houses Except the ones in these flowers.
All sticky & sweet inside.

I wonder what death tastes like. Sometimes I toss the butterflies
Back into the air.

I wish I knew why The music in my head
Makes me scared.

But I know things I don't supposed to know.
I could start walking

& never stop. These yellow flowers
Go on forever.

Almost to Detroit. Almost to the sea.
My mama says I'm a mistake.

That I made her a bad girl. My playhouse is underneath
Our house, & I hear people

Telling each other secrets.

Life During Wartime