What we Want to Be

[Lawrence]

Every day, we’re all what we want to be,
In every circumstance
-Except one.

Just last week, as I faced the mirror
Struggling with vampire’s teeth
My grandmother caught her cape
In a closing door, and rolled down
The kitchen stairs like a bowling ball,
Breaking every bone and body part
That still worked in her.

After a brief burial, I gazed
At the superhero outfit she perished in
As mother wept behind her Scream mask
And father stood silently, stroking
His Hagrid’s hair and dirty beard.

“It’s a shame she just missed
Her favorite holiday” Father says.
The one where, the night before
Candy stores turn into ant colonies
And pumpkins are hallowed out; carved
Twisted faces like tortured souls are making in hell.

The one where I wake up
Wearing khaki pants and a T-shirt
To father sipping coffee in a suit and tie
And mother in sweatpants, cleaning the dishes
Massaging her naked hands.

"What a strange holiday"
I think