in some remote region,
barefoot in the grass,
arms outstretched,
a child leaps
into the wild blue yonder,
into a vanishing point, wanting.
And I,
once that child, now find myself,
grounded in the sullen sky
over Florida’s Everglades,
prowling like her panther,
endangered , on the range.
On the blurred horizon,
the sun plays peek-a-boo
with human animals,
who we were and who we are,
fighting for our lives.
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Lucille Gang Shulklapper has published poems and stories in many journals as well as in four poetry chapbooks, the most recent titled In the Tunnel. She has also modeled, sold realty, made recordings for the blind, taught reading from k-college, and led workshops for the Florida Center for the Book and workshops facilitated through the Palm Beach Poetry Festival. Presently, she tutors third graders in reading as a senior volunteer, and lives with her husband, a retired pediatrician, and a rescued cat named Zoe.
