Shawn L. Bird

Kids can travel in flocks

and they can live in a box 

Neatly labeled: ‘a fish’ or ‘a rock’  

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But not Scott.

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There’s no box that can fit him

There’s no talk that can pick him

Not a box, what the opposite?

A circle or composite?

Yes a circle, a bubble

adrift, finding trouble .

“You’re a circle,” I say,

Very clearly today.

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“No, I’m not,”              

                           says Scott

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“I’m something new fangled

Not circle –  triangle.

But more than that, if you please

I am isosceles.

No – I’m a plain, unilateral,

isosceles equalateral.”

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Oh yes.  Many kids may fit in a box

with their labels affixed like they’re locked.

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But not Scott.

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Scott’s the epitome

                              of paradox

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(c) Shawn Bird 2010

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I’m really irritated that wordpress is not transferring my formatting, and is messing up my stanzas on this poem!   I had to separate with periods to keep the breaks.  If you want to reprint it, please ask me for the correctly formatted version.