right hand pointing

Ryan Garth Mitchell

Bad Ideas

come knocking

like freckly girl scouts

sporting sashes and sugar

or Amway salesmen with

Egyptian flow charts

or oblivious helmeted missionaries

who bicycle in ties and slacks.

Doing my best June Cleaver,

I let them in with dimples,

pointing to the softest couch,

offering lemonade and cookies,

and sitting across like an

expectant grandmother,

leaning in, elbows on knees,

chin in the heart of my palms.

Indiscriminate,

Ripe with giddy hope,

I entertain them all.