Lovely Penguin

By Marie Gordon

I was a freshman girl
And you were a baby
Snuggling in a glass cage
With a red-eyed sister

Lonelier than I knew
Both of us had plenty
We would teach each other
I picked you for your spunk

Not for the loyalty
My traveling sweater pet
Snowy white gerbil puff
I picked you for your ears

I was acting at me
You were showing your charm
Both of us little clowns
I bought you on a whim

You slept between my feet
As I studied for class
French existentialism
I read Beauvoir to you

While we trained each other
We were readying us
We had yet to see wrath
We had yet to find us

I under-prepared you
Gathering companion
Neither quite ready for
Winter hibernation

When that lanky monster
Crept slowly to our room
Turned down the thermostat
And ended our childhood

We never asked for that
Neither had consented
Both of us felt helpless
We were stuck in our cage

Looking like princesses
Pretending to be us
When we’d lost our persons
My tears fell on your scruff

You weren’t a prodigy
An ivy-league girlfriend
But I took what I got
And what I got was you

Something that never spoke
Accepted all my gifts
Curled up on my stomach
While I tried not to sleep

We hibernated then
We did what we had to
Protected each other
From that cold monster’s hands

You were my little ghost
You were my paper towel
Nibbling cereal crumbs
Mazing through my blankets

I wish you were here, M
Wish you could have seen more
After I left monsters
And that winter behind

But you were spunk
During my grief
And you were soft
Throughout the trial

Spunky Boo soft and loved

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