We give you filtered water
and always wash your blueberries
even when they’re organic
then last night
you painted a straight line
on your tongue
with a black felt pen
which made you look like a lizard
or an airport runway
and today
in your car seat
you played with a square of paper
until you got bored
and ate it
the surprise
isn’t that you still appear
to be thriving
climbing
making jokes
drawing portraits of your grannies
with glasses and earrings
and careful piles of hair
the surprise is how grateful I am
that you got it over with
the smudge on your canvas
which I had been trying
to keep white
for so long
in this big
gorgeous
dirty world.