These days our child in the other room
wakes before we do speaking aloud
a silly dialogue from a silly song
some phrases she is familiar with
like “stop the music” or “I can dance”
or “say peas” but others must be
purely phonic I doubt she understands
the full implications of “polka party”
or “I’ll show you no comprendo”
but she has them all memorized and
her articulation is immaculate
as we groggily smile ourselves awake
wondering what she’s on about
We may be relying on stories and songs
from other media to fill the hours
on days relenting in their emptiness
she learns so much even from our
knowing embrace of conscious choices
echoing throughout the house
One day I’ll let her know today
I was distracted paying attention to phrases
that should be committed to memory
extemporized into history
25 hours of words making good trouble
Joshua Keiter 