Belly Belly Belly

Thelma can’t help it

This is what her eyes

tell me

every time

I find her with

something 

wedged into her face

that should not

be there

A Knife

A Book

A Roll of

Toilet Paper

I know

She telepaths

I think it’s

Ridiculous, too

But

I CAN’T HELP IT.

At some point

I realized

I was being

too hard on her

I was

yelling at her

for things her

mind was 

making her do

Then I realized

my frustration

She is the one

most like me

I CAN’T HELP IT

I have wedged

so many

unwedgeable things

into

the most

utterly unwedgeable spaces

of my life

I am training

both of us now

Thelma has

selective hearing but

she cannot resist

Nathaniel Rateliff

I play his song SOB

She comes running

SHE CAN’T HELP IT

As for myself

when I feel my voice

rising in protest

of her latest

poor choice

I remind myself

she is me

I am her

Whatever words

I am about to say

I trade out for these instead

Belly Belly Belly

I say

BELLY BELLY BELLY

And her eyes melt

And she smiles

And wags

BELLY BELLY BELLY

Note to self

Must

try that on me