Obligate Carnivore

What’s an obligate carnivore? she asks, quite

the sensible question & one such a child — never

lets a chance to learn go by — is obliged

to ask, any & all words about science — biology, weather,

& food prep — TV contests every night anticipate

tomorrow’s kitchen experiments in sous vide & al dente.

The child is a sponge though we’d asked for a chordate.

Her headlong drive to soak up the world

implies spicules at least for backbone — calcium carbonate?

This morning’s adventure a guided whirl

through a candidate private school — Mom’s fed up

with seeing her forced into the median mold

where every child must do math — chop chop —

the way they’re told. The child protests! She gets how

to do it elsewise — in her head — not a so-many-step

process, instead an eyes-roll-up picture show

whereby she thinks, explores, & triumphs —

okay, it might be a wrong answer, a few below

or above ideal, still, we watch her galumph

over obstacles, long jump & pole vault oh so high —
ride ‘em cowgirl — eight-year-old queen of defiance.