SOL 20 of 31 -- A Dragon Day

I saw red today.
Teeth grinding,
brows furrowed, RED.
Deep breaths would not go in.






It's not like I didn't have fair warning:
My preschooler declared Operation No
first thing this morning.

She ripped the strap off my purse.
She screamed and refused

to try on the pants I wanted to buy for her,

yanked my arm, kicked my leg

while I visited with friends at lunch,

would NOT let Dad do bedtime.

I saw red today.
The kind of fist-clenching, toes-curling RED.

Nothing was easy.

I'm tired of demands,

tired of reminding about manners.

Unwilling to play SCHOOL or CINDERELLA

even ONE MORE TIME.

I felt red today,
that sort of fire-breathing dragon red.

Dragon in the sand photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/9422878@N08/6884612488/">Bill Gracey</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>

artsy dragon photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/rumpleteaser/3145880593/">rumpleteaser</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/">cc</a>

Embroidered dragon photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/merwing/6749111607/">merwing✿little dear</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>