Big Bad Lili

I was in my room staring at the white walls.
The red clock told me that it was after midnight.
Outside, just behind the cherry blossoms
of my curtains, the wind was howling
like the big bad wolf trying to catch
some unfortunate piglet or at least
trying to get into my bedroom.

Listening to the sound of the trees scraping
their stiff branches across the bricks,
I wondered why it was that I sat
staring at the wall and not doing
constructive tasks like homework
and poetry assignments or even
putting bright posters on that blank wall.

Pattering rain that sounded like tiny feet on the roof
drew me to the window, to gaze out
into the angry storm that pushed the tress
like some schoolyard bully who wanted
a good laugh and some lunch money
because her mom never woke up
to make her a sandwich with an affectionate note.

I saw the gusting wind with some forks and knives
of lightening that filled the shadowed sky
and I wondered what the weather
was like where my parents were and if
they were all right, hoping that the bully
hadn’t torn their leaky roof away
before her wandering eye fell on them.

Eventually, I turned out the lights and pulled
the blankets over my head, trying to drown
out the howling and the scraping
of little Lili trying to get into the house.
I just turned over and ignored her
because if you deny them attention,
bullies, even Mother Nature’s, get tired and go away.

October 8, 2002