Ellen LaFlecheTAKING MY SIX-YEAR-OLD SON TO THE DINOSAUR CAFE*We drive past the tar pits. Puddles of dead oil Behind the diner, We follow three-toed tracks to our booth. Josh orders the Brontosaurus Burger. My son knows the words extinction, Stegosaurus, paleontologist. I teach him the word chemotherapy, Josh flings the pterodactyl under our booth. I pick up the pterodactyl. It's covered with dead Josh grabs it from my hand. *Previously published in She Asks for Slippers While Pointing at the Salt Ellen LaFleche has published poems in Alehouse, Alligator Juniper, New Millenium Writings, the Ledge, Poetrysuperhighway.com., among many others. Her poem, JacObY, won second prize in the Paradise Poetry Contest for a poem about joy. The poem celebrates the joy brought to Boston fans by Jacoby Ellsbury, the first Navajo to play major league baseball. |