Sestina For a Forgotten Cousin Midget

Sestina for a Forgotten Cousin Midget Kids are midgets Like gnats, infested around the water Melons buried in ice Moms mixing up grape and lime Kool-Aid Smoke smolders from reddened charcoal Hot dog buns muffle family reunion noise From the bath house comes a noise Like some frozen midget Who is lost, not smelling the reunion-warm charcoal Small eyes water Cousins curl their necks swallowing Kool-Aid That slips down their throats like ice The bath house midget shivers, turning to ice Blue, making a whining noise He doesn’t beg for Kool-Aid He was with the other midgets But didn’t leave the water Until he thought of barbeque charcoal Eyes wide, black and warm like charcoal He doesn’t see the watermelon on ice Or the purple and green water Cousin midgets’ fingers play in Kool-Aid with slurping noise Frightened wet midget Doesn’t see the hotdogs and Kool-Aid A parent drops her glass of grape Kool-Aid Another slips his fork into the charcoal Runs to the soaked, crying midget A small cousin sucks on ice His is the only noise The sound of slurping tongue and water The crying one looks at the swimming water And at the grape and lime Kool-Aid Picking his nose, a sniffling noise Hungry for hot dogs over charcoal And watermelon over ice Feeling like a forgotten midget He was in the water when he smelled the picnic charcoal The others ran for Kool-Aid and melon ice Reunion noise forgot their cousin midget