Chelsea Whitton's poems have appeared in Cimarron Review, Sixth Finch, Bateau, Ilk, Poetry Ireland, Stand, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in poetry from The New School and is an English PhD candidate and graduate assistant at The University of Cincinnati. Read more of her work at www.chelseawhitton.com
from BEAR TRAP
Children keep things
safe from us.
They divvy, bury, shine.
They’ll trade
a crocus
for a seashell, jam jar
full of Lamb’s Ear
for a smooth
unpolished stone.
It’s what they’re doing
in the closet, what
in singsong
prayer, on playgrounds
poolside
wriggled into holes.
Replacing things
or playing. They are
reconciling shards
re-making-up
the kingdom.