play(ground) so sanitary now
gravel not grass under small feet;
harder walking but softer falls
& no wearing grass to dust
under swings
where nothing grows
children chase each other
in tribes, formed & warring
in minutes in their game
of hunt, chase, & catch,
a game young as children
but old as childhood
played in this world
of squirt guns
& endless hide-and-seeking.
I watch my son
hunt his sister, or does she
hunt him? unclear
who is it now,
who has otherness inscribed
on skin temporarily
with invisible ink.
Susan Daniels Poetry 