wildscape. literary journal

A Stew (Wincing Instants)
by Colin Griffin

A young person told me 
today how she feels 
like one of those worms, half-
alive, dried 	     up, stuck
in the		      middle
              of a 	        ~	    driveway
and her day 
has been full of 
scooters

Scooters?

Yeah, you know
like little kids ride
scooters up and d
                                 o
                                 w
                                  n
the driveway

Mr. O’Shaughnessy is a scooter
Amanda is a scooter
That algebra test
                                                         scooter

I felt this

But I also thought 
of that wincing instant
when your little
              semi-desiccated cylinder
feels contact
and you aren’t sure
if it’s the rubber wheel of existence
             or
curious feeling fingers
pinching you up
to drop you back
into the still-damp grass

about the author // Colin Griffin