by Alec Prevett

 
because he is small and yellow, like a lemon
jellybean,
or a capsule of fish oil. And when the neighbor children
            mistake him
            for a treat,
we will still love him, even
as they spit him out,

because he is easy to lose
            especially in the foyer
            with the rug he bought
            for you             the one that looks
            like the sun. And it’s okay
if you step on him
like you would a cat’s tail
accidentally—it’s been done
            and
will be done again

but we still love him!             because he has hands,
hands just like yours and ours, only much much smaller,
            which are great for making bouquets
            out of your discarded floss.    There are none quite like them,
which is why we still love him when he

goes                             inside
the breast pocket         of your sweater
and sings                     for you           
only for you                not for us         no,
just                              for you            but we
still                              love                 him

because he is small and
yellow
and doesn’t mind if you don’t love him
            in fact,
            he’d prefer if you didn’t
because he doesn’t want you to,

            which makes not loving him
            so much more difficult, don’t you agree?