She fell on top of me, burrowed her face in my fluff, hands smacking the down inside of me, legs kicking, wriggling, growing restless at the foot. Every night I gave her comfort, she told me her secrets, whispered in the meekest of voices of the taunts and the teases and the tortures of the day.

when I offered you a heart full of love

you answered,

like this woman in a toy store

when I tried to spend a two-dollar bill

a relative had given me

years ago, when I was young . . .

*

“I am going on a diet,” she announced.

“But McKenzie, you're only six! Besides, you’re beautiful!” I shot back.

“But,” she insisted, “I need to lose weight.

“No, you do not. I’m your nanny, I know these things. Now eat your lunch.”

We live on our floating planet,

this hunk, this rock,

we are so small.