I closed my biology book.
I didn’t get to the part

about how a frog is different
from a toad. I was hoping

that I never would. I planned
to refrain from touching

either of them. I heard toads
were poisonous, the secretions

on their skin could numb your arm.
I did not believe I needed

that information to survive.
Hopefully, I wouldn’t get into any

situation where that knowledge
was a life and death matter,

like the Swiss Family Robinson
marooned on a tropical island.

As long as I stayed away from ships
and rain forests I was safe.

© by Hal Sorowitz.
Used with the author's permission.