Listen, girl

Listen, girl, Let’s rock a minute. I gotta tell you somethin’ important.

Say someday you’re sittin’ on this swing, Yes, this same one, Long time from now, With a grownup man, And the lighting bugs are goin’, Making that summer magic in the jasmine air. See, there they go. And you lean your head on his shoulder, You can hear his heartbeat, cain’t ya? And in one ear comes this nightbug rhythm, In the other ear comes his steady pulse, And he asks you for everything you’ve got to give, All you’ve got inside, And he means to give you his too, All he can. That kinda talk can feel like a lotta weight, And you might be scared of that big talk, Scared enough to break a slat as you push away.

Listen, girl, If that day comes, Stand still by your heart, Or it’ll be as broke and dry rotted, As that cracked slat right there. It won’t be no good to nobody, ‘specially you.

Jennifer R. Lloyd is a former journalist and longtime logophile. No longer churning words into newsprint on the daily, she sweats out the demons in South Texas or purges them onto the page. In her spare time, she accumulates college degrees and explores poetry and fiction.