Insolent and Infatuated - Jelisa Gonzalez

I am a toddler bouncing off the walls 

I want you to see me

I’ve fallen off the dining room table again

I want you to comfort me 

and tell me its alright as I plot the next dumb 

Self inflicted atrocity. 

You pick me up 

Cradle me in your buff soft arms 

My eyes dart from the walls the ceiling 

I can’t look too much into you 

My flailing arms make it around your neck 

in an uneven embrace.

You are attentive 

to my dodgy self

The embrace proved to be too much for

my all-feeling self 

and the brows on your face furrow 

As a way to indicate,

Why the sudden change? 

I am a toddler swaying back in forth 

in her rocking chair that’s two doors away

from the table I fell off from.

You are looking for me

I feel the pulsating feeling from your eyes,

wanting to pry me from inside myself.

Though no one’s ever gotten that far

and I won’t let you be the first. 

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Jelisa Gonzalez is a current English Major in the BA/MA program at UAlbany. She has previously been published in the past two editions of ARCH. She loves the community of creative writers that ARCH brings together and allows the space to be free in their process. In her spare time she loves to read, listen to music, and spend time with her friends.