For
Ruby
All I
need is a branch
Solid in hand
To
separate the soggy wood chips
The sweetly moist earth
Dark
and soft from last week’s snow.
The
sudden surprise of a little town:
Worms
wriggling fast, but not
Fast enough.
A live
creature twists in my palm and
I am king.
I turn
it over like a gold coin
All
run to catch a glimpse
As I
pass my find, hand to hand,
Like
an expert archaeologist before an audience
Fingering some small bone
Such
as the tooth of a diplodocus.
There’s
more over here, someone shouts
And I
scramble purposefully
My
first worm almost forgotten
Dangling from my fingertips
As I
stand over the digging site
My voice ringing out
An
empress insuring her right to rule.
