The Family Favorite

-

A January corpse

lies face down 

In a frozen stream of gutter soup

abandoned like a thought

forgotten like a dream

a festive skirt tangled 

in its limbs.

Just hours ago 

that cadaver

was our family favorite

the center of attention

bigger than life 

twinkling

like the skyline is right now

I remember when you first came home 

Daddy carried you in

like he was balancing a birthday cake 

Or a hand grenade with a missing pin

Mommy fed you 

dressed you 

and stared at you all night

as she sat in the comfy chair near the fireplace 

and serenaded you with happy songs

as the snow 

outside swirled

like parade confetti gone mad.


But it turned out that you were not easy to live with.


You were too much work.

You were in the way.

You took up too much space

You were a constant mess

You were no longer wanted.

You were no longer loved.


So out you went, 

unlike the way you came in.


And then 


we simply rearranged the furniture and got on with our lives.


And now there you lie,

breathless,

disfigured and still

beneath a cruel clawed wind,

a symbol of nothing,

waiting to be hauled away

by the City of New York.


I can see you down below,

through my one window to the world

as if you fell, 

as if you were pushed,

lit by the crackling light 

of the Budweiser sign. 

And as a stray dog sniffs you

and people sail by like tugboats

expelling puffs of white vapor from nostrils and mouths

My heart is suddenly seized by the faint, sad echo of song and good cheer

of days past

and I wonder:

Will anyone ever speak of you?

Will anyone remember

this family favorite?  


Will anyone remember this Christmas tree?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What Must Babies Think?

-
What must babies think, As they wonder why their Push pram rocket ship Which on most days thrusts them Into the universe of the fiery sky ball and chatter filled park Sits mothballed in the corner Staring at the wall like White-haired bench people Who always seem so Sad and forgotten? What must dogs think The Wal Mart greeters of the Animal world Who use the sign language Of the excitable nose and tail To communicate their borderline insane love for anything that moves When they trot out first thing In the morning like they’re in competition at Westminster Only to discover A show of silent concrete? What must jets think Who usually cannibalize people Until their bellies are full When the only in-flight meal Is a flight crew Two pilots And 900 steerage ghosts Who sit Without hope or destiny In the kind of Quiet That follows anyone Who has ever walked Away from a grave? What must birds think The cocky pigeons The Blue-header vireo Or the Y...
Read more

EVERY WORD

-
Image
Every word Which we have the freedom to use Is a boy Or a girl as fresh as a prom corsage in a pine box In a bone white church That sits high atop a field of markers a million Stars of Bethlehem Many of whom will share the name Unknown. Every word Which we have the freedom to use Is someone’s dream Someone’s child Someone’s love Someone’s pain which the wind has carried off the returning flight of dust and seeds to an unimagincally distant place which is reachable solely by the asphyxiating ache of a parent’s prayer. Every word Which we have the freedom to use is as holy and sanctified as the endless death march miles of desiccated battlefields and lost at sea oceans which stand as memorials constant reminders that words are meant for Declarations of love and independence and Constitutions, Anthems and Pledges of Alleigenace and vows and plays and scientists and philosophers and bibles. There is a reason that our very first word and ou...
Read more

IT'S ONLY WORDS

-
Image
Those of us of a certain age of Aquarius remember that tune. For those of you whose taste runs along the lines of K-Pop, it was a big hit released by The Bee Gees in 1968. “It’s only words and words are all I have, to take your heart away.” According to Robin Gibb, “Words reflects a mood.   It was written after an argument.   Barry had been arguing with someone.   Robin had been arguing with someone and happened to be in the same mood.   The arguments were about absolutely nothing. They were just words.   That is what the song is about: words can make you happy or words can make you sad.” 1968 was a hell of a time in America.     The year began with the Tet Offensive in the midst of the Vietnam War, Martin and Bobby were assassinated, cops and protestors clashed in Chicago and even though the Civil Rights Act was passed in April, a particularly strong showing   by segregationist George Wallace   highlighted the strong e...
Read more