In Submission



Proud to say: I've got all my beasties and demons fettered. 

I stamp their collars with hearts, just to drive home the point.

I've got this dragon what puffs out a little smoke, in protest,

but I don't pay him no mind; he's just a bunch of hot air.

I walk him by leash, in the park, and people gape and gawk,

'cause I'm decked out in the whole armor of Christ, yo.

And I don't go nowhere without whistling me some Dixie.

***

My eight-year-old friend Abi created the above artwork in her Young Rembrandts class. I fell in love and asked if I might borrow it to inspire a creative project of my own. Abi's curious mom laughed and offered me, without reservation, the thing for which I asked. I hope my poem does the artwork justice.

Someday, when Abi is older, I want her to understand that her mom loved me, hard, even when I didn't have my beasties in submission.