Question

1) A childhood memory (playing in the backyard)
2) A pet (a dog that waited at the door). Write two poems for the two things I gave you.

Answer 1

Poem 1 — Backyard Afternoon

Sun braids itself into the fence slats,
warming the map of my knees.
Grass smells like summer and secrets;
dandelion seeds hitch rides on a breeze
that feels as wide as forever.
I build forts from cardboard and brave kingdoms
populated by ants and sticky popsicle hands.
A hose becomes a river I can cross,
a tire a swinging moon to touch with toes.
Time pools in puddles I jump through,
leaving small, heroic splashes behind —
and when the streetlight yawns awake,
I creep in with dirt under my nails
and the house holding the evening like a story.

Poem 2 — At the Door

He sits like a small, patient clock,
tail marking slow, faithful seconds.
When keys jingle the air changes;
his ears tilt, his whole body remembers me.
Rain could write rivers on the porch — he waits.
He does not tally my excuses or hours,
only keeps the warm vigil of a single promise:
to be here when footsteps return.
Then I pry the world open and he answers
with a thump that mends the day,
a wet nose that says simply: you are home.