Ninja Turtle Dreams

Airlie Gardens, Wilmington

When I was a kid,

I dreamed of having super powers

And of becoming a Ninja Turtle.

Today

On the bands of a pond

Or a creek

Or whatever this actually is

In front of a stone foundation

Beside a shit statue of Pan,

I saw some turtles.

Me

Sitting on stone steps that lead gradually to shallow watery depths

And the turtles

Moving slowly

At turtle speed

At the edge of the water

A rock approach me in the water

That turned out to be a shell

And then

Pop

Up came the head

They watched me

Did they have a smile

On their turtle face

Like I did

On mine?

I couldn’t tell

The sun was too bright

But we watched

And watched

Each other

And I saw them

Carrying their houses around on their backs

And realized that

Holy shit

I’ve become a turtle

Or at least as close to one

As I can be right now

I may not be carrying my home on my back

But everything I do own

Fits in my car

And I move along in that

It may not be a ninja turtle

But I think adolescent Ed

Would be proud

Turtles

All the way down