somewhere in the damn forest
where the fat pines look like my brother's arms
thick and ripe
i'm trying to get out for days and these green vines
keep getting in my way
i came up to a clearing
where the cross currents cooled my face
i would've sat down there in the middle
i would've rested just a little
but for the fire-bellied toads
see the ground was wet and they were everywhere
fire-bellied toad number five
from what may or may not have been a limited series
opened up his little mouth
as though to speak
and then he spoke
and then he spoke to me, and he said
"you can't holler down our rain barrel
you can't climb our apple tree
I don't want to play in your yard
if you won't be good to me."
honey it was downright creepy