Golden Shovel

She’s Lava, you’re Basalt.

Dull gray paint whacks My

nose, a glorious makeover by my mama.

She’s trying to paint over a rusted Ford that always

stayed grounded in the shed but said

he wanted to live life.

Her arms weaken as she pushes him. But he was

welding his tires to the earth because no matter how much he wanted to see life like

in the movies, a

broken tool in the made-up hardware box

tethers him right back to where he started. All my mama wanted were words of

Kindness, sweeter than melted chocolates.

-Line from Forrest Gump (1994)