In the
summer,
my mother says,
Little Digital
presents
Phyllis of the Forest
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Copyright ©
Little Digital LLC.
All rights reserved.
Little Digital LLC.
All rights reserved.
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There are so many places to go in the city.
Places I’m not welcome.
Places I don’t know the rules.
Places I feel eyes staring at me.
Sometimes it feels like the world wants me to be someone else.
But I have a
secret.
A special place where I can be whoever I want to be.
A magical world where I stand among
giants.
A place where I am
powerful.
I wrap my arms around an
elm tree
and look down on the world below.
Butterflies
flit between wildflowers like little fairies.
Dragonflies
zip and zoom across the pond.
See that
turtle
warming in the sun?
See how orange her belly is?
Turtles are my favorite.
I spy
a speckled
salamander.
I spy
a
ladybug
with six spots.
I spy
a
deer
watching me through the pines.
Do you see it?
Swimming pools are for the suburbs.
I have
lakes.
I
splash
and
dive
and
backstroke.
I come face to face with a
northern pike.
I am the
wild woman
of the water.
I dry off in the sun.
Puffy white
clouds
become
a
city bus,
a
frog,
a
mallard duck.
Silver fish
flash in the creek.
I stand in the shallows.
Eyes
sharp.
Hands
ready.
Got one!
I let him go, of course.
He is a creature of the
water.
He doesn’t belong to me.
The day fades away.
The
streetlights
come on.
Even with city lights you can see the
constellations.
They wink down at me as I walk home.
Where my mother is waiting,
The world sees what it wants to see when it looks at me.
But I know who I am.
Phyllis
of the
forest.
The End.
Phyllis Chatham is a mermaid, a fairy, and a longtime North Minneapolis resident. She grew up exploring the natural areas in and around the city’s North Side. She is passionate about connecting kids with the natural world and helping them discover magic in everyday places.
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