In My Pocket
Poetry
In My Pocket/Ruby Van Bendegem
Seventeen dragons nap and snap and writhe
within my pocket lining.
They don’t light it up, my pocket;
dragons are considerate that way.
Most are white, fourteen I believe.
The rest are motley shades of green and blue
with glistening scales like hologram
decals on ten dollar bills or cheap souvenirs.
The dragons are all sooty.
The soot comes from hunting parties.
Coming back clean from a hunting party
is a grave faux pas. Only a spectator
would come back clean.
My pocket is sooty as well, of course.
It all makes me smell like a campfire.
My brave dragons keep me safe.
We never speak of it but I know they ward off
overwhelming thoughts.
Another way they are considerate.
We have an understanding, my dragons and I.
KB Nelson is a Canadian writer who thrives in the intersection of art and science. Her poems have appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies including Tiny Spoon, Nourish-Poetry, Sea-To-Sky Review, and Polar Borealis. She currently lives and combs the beach on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast.
Ruby Van Bendegem is retired after over three decades as a journalist and a lawyer and is the recovering mother of four. She lives and paints in northwestern Ontario, Canada. On summer days, you will find Ruby and her husband paddling a canoe or kayak on the waters of Lake Superior.