"Play"

(This is a poem about my daughter's preschool, El Cerrito Parent Coop, which is all about play.)


Open that box. Release the zoo.
Uncap the bottle. Dump the glue.
Free the marbles, tipping the jar.
Where are those hats? Empty the drawer—
there are projects we need to do!

In the worlds we reveal, what’s true
is the plenty of me and you
with all this permission of more.
Open that box—

the big one we can’t see into.
It will yield a surprise or two,
an impulse to paint or build or
enact scenes on a distant shore.
Friend, we’re lucky to be those who
open that box.

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