A Poet's Indulgence

I lied.

I said she said okay,

But I hadn’t even asked.

.

Lying to Grandma,

that’s how much I wanted to,

I’d even lie to Grandma.

.

The project courtyard had fenced in grass,

no larger than a tiny garden or

a tiny prison cell,

.

And that day it was covered in snow,

smooth, unbroken, clean snow,

like in Alaska or some mountain somewhere.

.

I clenched the bars of the fence

and stared in

and wanted to so badly,

.

just a step,

just to enter into this tiny wilderness,

right in the middle of Queens.

.

“Mom said I could,” I said

That was my lie to Grandma:

“Mom said I could go in there,”

.

but then

I realized

I wouldn’t fit.

.

The bars were too close together

I was a skinny six year old but

I was too big a human to fit.

.

I wasted a whole lie,

and Grandma told,

and I got punished.

.

But I already was punished,

and the fence kept the wilderness safe

from humans like me.