Part of Me
\nby
\nRadiance Angelina Petro<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I have a bin of toys and a bin of musical instruments
\nin the living room. One has things, like an old Etch-a-Sketch,
\na blue, felt elephant on wheels you can roll across the floor,
\nan old Fisher-Price camera with ready-made pictures
\nof farm animals in the viewfinder, shark bubble-shooters,
\nand, of course, purple and green bottles of bubbles–complete with wands.
\nThere\u2019s a bendy-gorilla, a couple of those things you press down,
\nthen wait for them to pop up into the air, there\u2019s a cow that moos
\nwhen you tip it, the boardgame \u201cCandyland,\u201d and a deck of go-fish cards,
\namong other things. The instrument box is full
\nof little tambourines\u2014one even has faded, blue, pink, and green
\nstreamers attached, there are multiple shakers\u2014some shaped like
\neggs, some like pears, some like giraffes, others like rhinos,
\nthere are kinds like the ones Davey Jones played while singing
\n\u201cI\u2019m a Believer,\u201d on the Monkees TV show,
\nthere are hand-held blocks of wood with sandpaper glued to one side,
\nthere are claves of various sizes, a couple leather straps of Christmas-bells,
\namong other things. And they\u2019re always there, ready
\nfor the playing, and they remind me, when I see them,
\nthat part of me will happily forever be a child.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n