Once on a yellow piece of
paper with green lines
he wrote a poem
And he called it
"Chops"
because that was the name of
his dog
And that's what it was all
about
And his teacher gave him an A
and a gold star
And his mother hung it on the
kitchen door
and read it to his aunts
That was the year Father
Tracy
took all the kids to the zoo
And he let them sing on the
bus
And his little sister was
born
with tiny toenails and no
hair
And his mother and father
kissed a lot
And the girl around the
corner sent him a
Valentine signed with a row
of X's
and he had to ask his father
what the X's meant
And his father always tucked
him in bed at night
And was always there to do
it.
Once on a piece of white
paper with blue lines
he wrote a poem
And he called it
"Autumn"
because that was the name of
the season
And that's what it was all
about
And his teacher gave him an A
and asked him to write more
clearly
And his mother never hung it
on the kitchen door
because of its new paint
And the kids told him
that Father Tracy smoked
cigars
And left butts on the pews
And sometimes they would burn
holes
That was the year his sister
got glasses
with thick lenses and black
frames
And the girl around the
corner laughed
when he asked her to go see
Santa Claus
And the kids told him why
his mother and father kissed
a lot
And his father never tucked
him in bed at night
And his father got mad
when he cried for him to do
it.
Once on a paper torn from his
notebook
he wrote a poem
And he called it
"Innocence: A Question"
because that was the question
about his girl
And that's what it was all
about
And his professor gave him an
A
and a strange steady look
And his mother never hung it
on the kitchen door
because he never showed her
That was the year that Father
Tracy died
And he forgot how the end
of the Apostle's Creed went
And he caught his sister
making out on the back porch
And his mother and father
never kissed
or even talked
And the girl around the
corner
wore too much makeup
That made him cough when he
kissed her
but he kissed her anyway
because that was the thing to
do
And at three A.M. he tucked
himself into bed
his father snoring soundly
That's why on the back of a
brown paper bag
he tried another poem
And he called it
"Absolutely Nothing"
Because that's what it was
really all about
And he gave himself an A
and a slash on each damned
wrist
And he hung it on the
bathroom door
because this time he didn't
think
he could reach the kitchen.
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