The flat balloon
Wraps around the child's face.

This is how it feels when you talk to me,
I can't get out of it and you say very little.

My hands are holding
The balloon tightly on the child's face.

I want the child to feel life.
I want to feel

The pain that the clouds have made for me.
Suddenly the child springs up, gets me a present, and says thank you.

His dog follows after him
And the dog is made of snow and so am I.


"Emotions" from Awe by Dorothea Lasky. Copyright © 2007 by Dorothea Lasky. Published by Wave Books.