Little Palm

Lesyk Panasiuk

    i

    Pretend you are a potato

    & hide in a sack

    peek at the earth through a hole

    while they are carrying you

    from the garden to the cellar

    In the end, hop out of the sack when no one is looking:

    a very small boy.

    ii

    Mother keeps your baby hair

    like marker of time:

    so she can imagine you before and after.

    iii

    Childhood is falling into snow

    what is falling

    Snow, what falls?

    Falling into snow falling into snow

    Falling

    Into snow

    Falling falling into snow.

    iv

    When does childhood begin

    and when does it end?

    So small, this palm.