Where the Living Is Easy
Maple trees squirrel-thick with frolic.
Hop-scotch chalk at your ready.
Through squinted eyes, a sun burst.
Mockingbirds claim a bush.
The cat arthritic, content to watch
perched on a stool, the wood bleached.
All of us fixed in the present
a lick of popsicle, a scab healed
on naked knee, the garden jazzed
with bee buzz and daisies.
The old, rusted bike beckons
one more spin around the block.
Originally from Montreal, Babo Kamel is now retired to Florida. Her work is published in reviews such as Greensboro Review, Painted Bride Quarterly, CV2, Poet Lore, and Best Canadian Poetry 2020. Her chapbook, After, is published with Finishing Line Press. She divides her time between Montreal and Florida. babokamel.com
See more of her work in 9.2