Inch by Inch

Jen Curran

Green English

9/27/13

Inch by Inch

The doors swing open,

Exposing white metal shelves,

Crammed

With bags of granola,

Jars of spaghetti sauce,

And boxes of cereal.

I push past item after item,

Parting a sea

Of non-perishables,

Until I find the chart.

Tic marks

And enormous black numbers

Race

To keep up

With the progress

Of a fast-growing child.

Every inch

Is swallowed up

By the unintelligible scrawl

Of little fingers.

Eventually,

I have exceeded

The chart’s five-foot limit,

And it no longer

Serves a purpose.

But still it hangs.

It may be true

That this poster

No longer helps me

Track

How quickly I have gone

From one foot

To the next.

But I know that

Somewhere,

Another chart is waiting,

Eager to be filled with

Accomplishments and mistakes,

Friends and enemies,

Miracles and disasters,

And everything in between.

Changing

And rearranging themselves

As I change,

Too–

Inch by inch.