To my husband

I hope you enjoyed the

Ring Pop I put

in your lunch today.

It was our daughter's, and

I stole it from her.

(Don't fret - there are more).

I wanted you to taste your

childhood again. I hope

it was sweet, and juicy,

and deliciously vivid.

Mine was cherry.

Copyright, Catherine Young, 2012.

Locust

A bloom to dote upon, to

celebrate in verse and frame,

to pluck, to decorate, to admire.

A plague that devastates, shadowing

the land in a heaving swarm; a

pestilence to fear, to evade, to hate.

The dichotomy of a

single word.

Copyright, Catherine Young, 2012.