Brenda Niskala
Castles
You climb up a rock pile
your child hands plump and
certain, nails full of the
earth. You’ve been digging
a fort. The walls, small rises of fine dust
will blow away in tomorrow’s
wind
The rocks are rounded
grooved, abraded by glacial movement, spring floods and
penetrating ice where buffalo have leaned itchy hides
for a hundred thousand mosquito-ridden dusks
Each rock warms you, releases afternoon
sun, the remembered warmth of its making
Dried grasses poke through crevices
stubborn as their roots
Your feet are hide-tough
from the gravel of the lane to the unpainted
farmhouse, the sun’s reflection on its windows
fuchsia gold
You balance both feet on the cap stone, heaved from the field
fifty years ago You reach for a handful of sunset, shout
to the rocks, the earthen fort, the stooped
figure at the door of the glowing house, the sun itself
“I am King of the Castle” The shout
echoes back from the barn You call
again, again, vaguely sense the indulgence
pillowing the potential, your inevitable fall.
You are young
Page(s) 188-189
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