Roll Call: Bucky

Bucky
is the three year old who ran
into the street and made
my mother chase her,
who dragged that same mother –
extremely pregnant with
my sister – up and down the stairs
of all the brownstones
on the street. she’s
the one who wants just exactly
what she wants
and will brook no
opposition, even from
herself. she was the child
who picked up everything she saw,
and studied it very closely,
trying to find out all the details
about how it was made
and what it did, observing,
forming hypotheses. one time she
was picking up bugs
around the pool at
that summer house my parents
were staying at and she
picked up a bee, which promptly
stung her. she says
it was worth it. that bee had such
velvety golden fur with
bold black stripes, and the wings
were so cunningly
crafted. she’s a naturalist, an engineer and
a brave explorer at heart.