Looking for the Real Denny

- Lara Stokes -

 

We are going to the woods to find me.

I was bad; I swore at Mummy.

I was rude, I roared, I threw

rocks and I broke Rosie’s window.

 

‘This isn’t you’ Dad says,

‘This is a wild animal’

The Real Denny is a caveman.

He must be in the woods.

 

We walk, Dad talks about

knowing the difference between

little boys and wild creatures,

how to be good -  I choose the woods:

 

I will kill bears and foxes, I will

build myself a cave, I’ll fight

other cavemen, steal their treasure,

Mummy won’t ever find me.

 

Our neighbor stops his car -

he is concerned, I am a child

being dragged into the woods

I’m a tantrum in a thunderstorm.

 

He doesn’t know I’m already wild

‘This is an exercise in

personal growth’, I am going to the woods

to find myself.