NaPoWriMo Day 23

The Mules Do Whatever It Takes

The lilac bush blooming at the bus stop
really brings me back to my childhood,
though I don't remember a lilac bush being
in my childhood. Maybe it is a childhood
that I wish could be conjured by such
a thing. I'd climb the ladder of a rusting
aluminum swing set to clip a few bunches
for my mother. She'd be putting a pie
together in the kitchen, and she'd call
out the window for me to be careful.
But in a tone that implied that one should
take certain risks in order to please one's
mother. The Mules, who were in the dog
house chewing on a rawhide bone, would be
going ape shit at the end of their chain
not two feet from my ass. To make it seem
all the more dangerous.