Slickness on slug tails
and sting bites of red ants
Magic on unicorns
or Pegasus wings.

Blackness on coal dust
and coal dust on dad's face.
Bulldozers eating mountains
leaving none for my feet.

Water over small toes
and algae on rocks
Leaf-fall on hillsides
and snakes under leaf-fall.

Locusts that sing
just for me
'cause I'm the only one
that likes that sound.

Pinch crabs in sand,
sharp seashells in seaweed
cutting my feet
I didn't like the beach.

I like it now.
Just starting today.
Why not like everything?
It doesn't hurt much.

Images,
and feelings
and memories
and pangs.

What?
And how?
And Who?
And why?

Good and bad
and real and imagined
all of these things
make us feel.