The sky-blue Teddy bear towered over me. Charcoal eyes and nose, friendly smile: my parents nestled me in its arms.
Mom told me how much I loved that Teddy. One day, the window of my room, which looked out on a sewer grate, opened during a storm. Wet leaves, mud and soaked mulch buried my bear.
When I was a toddler, I finger-painted this first loss at a day care center in Tarrytown. The shape of Teddy’s head and ear can just be made out from the chaotic mess of colors that covered the rest of him.
piles of leaves
our son’s own blue teddy
left behind
Photo by Trym Nilsen
first published in Image Curve, August 16, 2018
for Real Toads’ Micro Poetry ~ A Poem Lovely As (imagined by Kerry O’Connor)
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