Adolescent

He's full of cornered shelves,
crammed cubbies,
drawers ajar and spilling over—
not quite fitting or filling
his space.
I want to shake him out—
wipe away the dust,
puzzle together a complete picture,
display all his shining moments,
matted and framed.

He deposits life
in sedimentary layers—
slick seashells and broken stones,
pencil stubs and smudged drawings,
whorled marbles and worn coins.
I itch to sort through the pieces,
polish and set a jeweled mosaic,
excavate the unrefined ore
biding its precious time
just beneath his surface.

I gather myself to enter
his edifice under construction,
tour the premises,
admire the vaulted ceilings,
nudge a beam square here and there—
but I hover, undecided,
an ignorant visitor stuttering
and stumbling outside his door,
not grasping how to unlatch
the unknown.









Contest/publish records:
NFSPS 2010, Cat. 11, 3rd HM
Segullah, Vol. 8.0, Fall/Winter 2011, http://journal.segullah.org/poetry/adolescent/
http://apoetinzion.blogspot.com, 10/7/11
http://www.everydaymormonwriter.com/work/adolescent/, 5/11/2012