ONCE
WE WERE CHILDREN ONCE PLAYING WITH TOYS
Storm clouds gathering though not in the forecast I
believe in the weatherman +watch the weather for clues
It is the closest one can get to the Divine in a secular time
I stare penetratingly at the 7 day +never fail to look at Paris
+ Rome
Left 1 husband in Paris another in Rome Overdosed on
limpid beauty tainted-love +lumpen strawberry risotto Things
were much simpler weatherwise circa 1965 in the backyard The
weathergods were friends with your parents who insisted you leave
the vinyl pool on steamy afternoons Sky rumbling raucously
Frogs pre blunt force trauma family too ( hey we had to stun them
or they’d end up on driveway frogs splayed under father’s Audi ) This
a sadness youngest bro could not tolerate To this day he aches for the
children in Charlie Brown They have no parents! his refrain
Ours were quick too quick to order us out of the pool Always on the
lookout for lightening +Huntington’s Korea a famous childhood disease
back in the day Our mother had St. Vitas Dance +checked us for:
fascinendem tremendems regularly Those slight tremors the first sign
of shtetl witchery
Yet we had no fear +played with the sparks nearing vinyl+metal And to
this day we remain fearless though the tragic news of Kate Spade’s death
wears on us Reportedly from anxiety Anxiety more dangerous than lightening
Her 13 year old daughter at school
Fearlessness ragged around the edges No cure for fear of death by hanging This
fate also that of a gentle boy with pinned ears I liked We often walked home from
school together In Grade 11 he became a lifeguard at our camp where on a steamy
summer’s day he climbed high up into the rafters of the main building
__
Summer 2018 RIP Kate Spade 55 +Jeffery G. 17 one of the smartest boys at school
songanddancegirl 