The Meadow Annual Literary Arts Journal 2022

The Meadow 11 plenty Kolbe Riney didn’t know, don’t know / why you’d want more / and that’s why I never understood / goldilocks leaving a bed too big for her / Like, I want / to be too comfortable / actually / I want to be the softest thing possible / Like, we’re both really full / and covered in fur / and settling in for a really long nap / And I want our table to be a spool of thread / where we hold mouse tea parties / and use the yarn to knit sweaters / for our neighbors / the frog, toad, and mole / but like, enough sweaters, you know? / like, enough to clothe the whole village / like, I want them to have extras! / and when we talk, I want every word / to feel like blowing kisses / and for every step to be like walking home / from the bar with your best-best friends / where we can’t feel our legs moving / and we just got done laughing / and everything is pink / And mostly, I want us to wake up in the spring / and gather blackberries in picnic baskets / shaped ideally for someone with silly-big paws / and I want to spend all afternoon making jam / and eating more than enough extras on the side / until our lips come back sticky and purple / and when we kiss, we don’t even wipe it off.

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