Our Darling Boy

Our son tries on roles from school or books
like most people buy shoes, testing one pair
and another until one fits the moment.

Now he’s Hermione wanting that time-turner
so he can lengthen his days and make more time
to play and read and dress up (always dress up).

Sometimes he’s the firefighter or EMT. Other times
he prefers the pink tutu so he can dance his way
through the hallway like a ballerina, or flit like

the rainbow butterfly princess down the stairs
to the front room where he constructed her castle
in his contractor's outfit yesterday. Now he’s Babe,

the sheep-dog-pig. He’s a pilot, a pirate, a knight.
Our house is big enough for him and his dreams.
Dragons seem to know they should stay away.

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About the Author

Audell Shelburne has published poems in a number of journals and anthologies, including descant, Borderlands: Texas Poetry Review, di-verse-city, Loud Coffee, Alchemy and Miracles, Verse Virtual, and others. He is currently dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Northeastern State Oklahoma in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, where he has previously taught poetry and other courses in literature since 2011. He enjoys spending time with his wife and kids, pretending to cook, and dabbling in watercolors.