I put on my white lab coat
nervously, as if it were a cloud,
then opened the third-place cage.
I reached out my shaking hand
that had thousands of
different smells. My rabbit sniffed
and came knowingly.
Then they called my courageous
name. I walked to the open door
while my steps shook behind me.
I took a chance. I stepped out
of the old world into a flash of lights,
people everywhere you looked,
the smell of rabbits, extinguished.
At the grassy table I saw
the stern-looking judge.
“Pose!” she said, so I put my rabbit
on the green table
and tucked his feet under his body
and wadded him up in a ball.
"Handle!" I put my thumb finger
between his ears and tucked
his head underneath my arm and smiled.
Laughter roared in my naked ear.
“Exam!” I mited Clover's ears.
I touched his eyes to see
if he was blind. I twirled
him over, checked his nose, teeth.
stroked his throat, pulled his feet,
I scrubbed his hocks with my stubby thumb.
I flickered the tail, twirled him again,
puffed up the fur and back. I was done.
So I went from the new to the old.
I put it behind me and went back
to the rusty cage, Clover stimulated
to relax once more. I left
and took my 3rd-place ribbon, silky
as a white cocoon. I opened the cage again
and kissed the cocoa rabbit goodnight.
Age 12