Here I Am

Here I am contemplating
my navel, an
exercise of the mind, bathing in memories.
How they fly about these days
as I enter the cusp
of my time on this fine earth

when my youth shattered the earth with
exuberance---fishing, wrestling
and running with friends, adventures
with daring, like the time a carbon-breathing
locomotive chased us across a trestle,
me earning the name ‘piss-pants’
after that fateful day---

once a girl my age of ten held a buttercup
under my chin, me staring at her
pretty eyes, not understanding why
at the time as she said yellow
showing on my skin meant I liked butter,
something we couldn’t afford, only margarine.

© Richard L. Provencher