House or Forest: No Difference

by Dixie J-Elder

Shall I quit scrubbing these Italian tile floors?
Yes! Let dirt build up
until I tread on a forest bed
thick and soft
allow flickers to peck holes in our pine wood walls
deer shyly enter at the front door
Let's fling sunflower seeds from paper bags,
squirrels nibble at some of these,
others sprout into heavy flowers
snacks for people and animals
mushrooms cluster in corners, on books
to be sautéed in creamy butter from goats' milk,
Nubians grass-fed on the study's lawn
visitors will wonder whether they have entered a house or a fairytale
in twenty years, when my white hair is braided into a crown,
a flaunting red maple tree will flourish in the bedroom,
its leaves fallen onto my bed
covering me as gently as I go to my rest

Dixie J-Elder grew up in a 1950 DeSoto, traveling across America as her father mapped deserts, swamps, mountains, hills and coastlines for the US Geological Survey. She began writing at age 4. She studied Medieval Literature in a Shenandoah Valley college, earning tuition by working on a goat farm and in the school dining hall. Dixie lives in Colorado with her anthropologist/actor husband and two Humane Society refugee cats.

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