String Forest

her chubby, stubby, rosy fingers
stretched and reached for the strings
but even on her tippity toes
she couldn’t even wiggle or jiggle the ribbons

big booming footsteps pounded across the floor
stopping to sling her up into the air
and fling her onto his wide, broad shoulders

“Look,” he yells. “Look at those beached whales on the ceiling,
the string forest that surrounds us for miles.”

she giggles
as she pulls
on all the strings
she can reach