Joshua Keiter

Happenstance of neighbors
at the playground
eager to play perhaps

prompted by the novelty
of recognizing slightly younger
and older versions of themselves

as kids one of them hides and
the other apparently seeks
that is of course walks by the tree

by turns then reluctant to hide
herself our child fatigued
returns to our kitchen

runs to us in the living room
saying Hi and then as fast runs
back to the kitchen speaking

all the while recreating as
it were the position of both
the hidden and the seeker

the way she asks when tired
to ascend the stairs “I pick you up”
knowing I will of course it’s me

she means so called proper
pronouns get learned around
the visible tree along the way

from one room to another