Christina Sparks
Toad Hunting
My sister & I walk along the gravel path,
dressed in dripping bathing suits
clutching plastic buckets & walking sticks.
We return from the lake.
August dew drips off the ivy
& dusk settles on the woods,
the light falls purple on the brush
as we scan the ground
for little gold eyes & little brown feet.
Toads are tricky.
They hide in dry leaves
& hunt earthworms at dusk.
I spot a toad wriggling
into the ivy & waiting for a mouthful to creep by.
Startled by the click of our flip flops
he jumps.
Hops out onto the path
& I grab him.
He squirms under my pink painted fingers,
you give him a kiss on the head
& we release him into the ivy.
Christina M. Sparks is a recent graduate of Carlow University, where she studied poetry under Jan Beatty. She was awarded the 2012 Award for Excellence in Creative Writing, and was awarded the Marilyn P. Donnelly poetry award Honorable Mention. Christina has had work published in Chapter & Verse a section in the City Paper online and in an anthology by Waid Books. She is currently earning her MFA in poetry from Pacific Lutheran University, where she participates in the Mount Rainier Writers Workshop.
Toad Hunting
My sister & I walk along the gravel path,
dressed in dripping bathing suits
clutching plastic buckets & walking sticks.
We return from the lake.
August dew drips off the ivy
& dusk settles on the woods,
the light falls purple on the brush
as we scan the ground
for little gold eyes & little brown feet.
Toads are tricky.
They hide in dry leaves
& hunt earthworms at dusk.
I spot a toad wriggling
into the ivy & waiting for a mouthful to creep by.
Startled by the click of our flip flops
he jumps.
Hops out onto the path
& I grab him.
He squirms under my pink painted fingers,
you give him a kiss on the head
& we release him into the ivy.
Christina M. Sparks is a recent graduate of Carlow University, where she studied poetry under Jan Beatty. She was awarded the 2012 Award for Excellence in Creative Writing, and was awarded the Marilyn P. Donnelly poetry award Honorable Mention. Christina has had work published in Chapter & Verse a section in the City Paper online and in an anthology by Waid Books. She is currently earning her MFA in poetry from Pacific Lutheran University, where she participates in the Mount Rainier Writers Workshop.