NaPo 09 ~ Annie

Annie

Annie sees dragons in all things - that car
has a dragon ensconsed in the wheel hub
and there in the bricks of her office, a worm
set to watch her flick through the doors and clip
on the foyer's marbled floor; there's one
in the lift that huffs her aloft, its scales
each brushed to a burnish by fingers of colleagues
too eager to rub what they will not see -
how could they miss the ruby wink
of the wyvern who heats the canteen muffins
or the knotted blue tongue they walk on
each day, each step a hiss of static
warning: we taste you; we hunger; we want.

Annie sees dragons in all things: this babe
in the pram has a tail in her hands and eases
the ache in her gums on cold leather,
her mother ignores it; the man with the dog
on a lead cannot sense his mutt's fear
of the draco that laps puddle water -
she could comfort the creature, but people don't like
nutters who talk to shadows and bumps
in the crease of the kerb, who weave across streets
like a pup after milk to save their flesh
from the lick of cere flames ... no,
Annie prefers to let people do what
people do, for they can be dragons too.