I make no claims

of brilliance or elegance

only of white walls

and handmade furniture

 

of lavenders blooming

and roses climbing

outside my window,

even in winter

 

I know of tadpoles and lizards,

snakes and crayfish

of flint rocks and red clay

passion fruit and sumac berries.

 

I have tasted sand,

caressed hawk feathers

and scarred my knuckles

while building barbed wire fences

 

I walked the halls of academia,

succeeded, so they tell me,

because of my memory

and ability to read people

 

but somehow I have failed

to understand the appeal

of leather cases, concrete,

high heel shoes

 

and gray wool skirts.