16 November 2006

on the Oberst's refrigerator

crayon, washable in looping squiggles,
not quite a rainbow, not quite a person
but a family none the less, together.

taken down.

connect the dots ripped
out of a couloring book
after learning how to count.

taken down.

a tracing of a hand, fingertip
feathers yellow, red, &
blue with a beak on the thumb

taken down.

an A- state spelling test
Mississippi & Missouri correct
but Coneticut caused problems.

taken down.

I want to be a fireman, I
want to be an architect, I want
to be a musician.

taken down.

a bundle of receipts, yellow &
white, crumpled & signed
to keep track of the money going out

taken down.

my family is reduced to names
on a shopping list, one square of
wants & a hope for a phone call.

1 comment:

ehammelshaver said...

can i get a goddamn timpany roll to start this goddamn blog comment?

this poem consenses childhood memories together with a distinct sense of loss...not only is this perfect to describe the act of taking memories off the fridge (always a difficult process in my experience), but it looks back on childhood with the same feeling of forgetting, moving on, and keeping track of money going out--not what's being kept in anymore. i really like the spelling test part. mississippi was always the easiest.