The fort

They built a fort in the living room
with a bedroom for each of them
made of pillow walls

you can’t come in, madam

my daughter says to me
through a window in the back of a chair

social distancing

she says with a look that is older than her face
the kind you see in the quiet shapes
of people who have endured

then they go back to giggling
while I look out at the giant cedar trees
that surround our cabin
wondering if whenever I see their branches
shivering in the wind
like they are right now
will I think back to this.