I felt safer outside of the house,
the house tumbling down, never finished.
I stayed by the rocky driveway’s white sand
and watched small ants hide in their hole.
The spider in my father’s garden
was beautiful, not terrible, and just
before the woods began I found
ripe strawberries wild and random
and did not crush them with bare feet.
Do I remember my mother’s car
leaving, always leaving? My brother
gazing out a window in bitterness
as she left…. Day after day
I walked to the wall of gray stones
gathered from green fields. There I listened
to metal bells and swaying mooing
and wished I could be so strong.
I always lingered as long as I could.
I liked the cows very much.
