Once, a scientist

 Once, a scientist…

bright-eyed baby, museum floor

lights-displayed intricately,

a thousand illuminating handles

red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet

interactive pulses

                           for you, for me, and for her

initiated by tiny fingertips 

                  conducting upwards and outwards

she pulls and tugs 

                 they flare and dance

little mouth gaping wide,

tugging even more

radiating 

as stars, waves, and blobs

turning corners

                     encircling, 

                     dazzling,

teens at opposite end,

pull and tug back

synergize with her

hysterical! she finds

each touch reinforcing, 

electrical outbursts

repeat!

she quantifies and qualifies illustrious patterns

                   

randomness,

or, an addictive puzzle?

the entire wall lit,

her perfect posture,

an audience marveled,

by delving

               inquiring

                           remembering their own…

an ocean,

colliding into a body,

tousled by sea foam,

curious at the motion and buoyancy

of being

under a freeway,

a river, a concrete bottom,

black flattened, velvety bodies

long slithery tails,

filling up my bucket,

yes! a selfish-acquisition

watching them grow legs,

in a glass baking dish,

until they leapt off and away,

into a gutter on Rendalia street

thank you Mom and Dad,

for letting me take off my shirt,

and swim and sway from monkey bars,

feeling the air on my back,

and calibrating me for great discoveries

hearing, seeing, smelling, and feeling

all in good time.

once, a scientist

always,

this life 

treasure

abound