09-09-2013, 09:40 AM
Her rawhide whip whirls in the kitchen air
as a self-righteous cow looks with disapproval
at the leather-clad milkman and madness
just inside the door.
Mom's smiley face dims the sunrise
on days like this. With my report card in hand,
she ransacks mementos sent by dad
for a pen to initial grades of failure.
Joe, the plumber, pulls into the driveway,
readies his snake and plunger,
but they'll remain unsoiled.
Our neighbor will never finish mowing his lawn.
A cat shrieks. Sparrows splatter against potted plants.
Mom's sewing machine bursts,
sends needles flying through the house
as the Cessna's fuel explodes, turns my sisters
into single-parent children. I get shipped
to Michigan to live in a house areek with
Ancient Age and a piano in decomposition
beneath a framed oil
of deer fleeing trees aflame.
as a self-righteous cow looks with disapproval
at the leather-clad milkman and madness
just inside the door.
Mom's smiley face dims the sunrise
on days like this. With my report card in hand,
she ransacks mementos sent by dad
for a pen to initial grades of failure.
Joe, the plumber, pulls into the driveway,
readies his snake and plunger,
but they'll remain unsoiled.
Our neighbor will never finish mowing his lawn.
A cat shrieks. Sparrows splatter against potted plants.
Mom's sewing machine bursts,
sends needles flying through the house
as the Cessna's fuel explodes, turns my sisters
into single-parent children. I get shipped
to Michigan to live in a house areek with
Ancient Age and a piano in decomposition
beneath a framed oil
of deer fleeing trees aflame.