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 all 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 alot
And the girl around the corner sent him a
Valentine
signed with a row of Xs
and he had
to ask his father what the Xs 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
it's 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 alot
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 piece of 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 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 damn wrist
And he hung it on the bathroom door
because this
time he didn't think
he could reach
the kitchen.