Chops

Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines
She wrote a poem
And called it "Chops"
Because that was the name of her dog
And that's what it was all about
And her teacher gave her an A
And a gold star
And her mother hung it on the kitchen door
And read it to her aunts
That was the year that Father Tracey
Took all the kids to the zoo
And he let them sing on the bus
And her little sister was born
With tiny toenails and no hair
And her mother and father kissed alot
And the girl around the corner sent her A
Valentine signed with a row of X's
And she had to ask her father what the X's meant.
And her father always tucked her into bed at night
And was always there to do it

On a pice of white paper with blue lines
She wrote a poem
And called it "Autumn"
Because that was the name of the season
And that's what it was all about.
And her teacher gave her an A
And asked her to write more clearly.
And her mother never hung it on the kitchen door
Because of it's new paint
And the kids told her
That Father Tracey smoked cigars
And left the butts on the pews
And sometimes thye would burn holes.
That was the year her sister got glasses
With thick lenses and black frames
And the girl around the corner laughed
When she asked her to see Santa Claus
And her father never tucked her into bed at night
And her father got mad
When she would cry for him to do it.

Once on a pice of paper torn from her notebook
She wrote a poem
And called it "Innocence: A Question"
Because it was a question about her girl.
And that's what it was all about.
And her professor gave her an A.
And a strange steady look.
And her mother never hung it on the kitchen door
Because she never showed her
That was the year that Father Tracey died
And she forgot how the end
Of the Apostles Creed went
And she caught her sister making out on the back porch
And her mother never kiss
Or even talk
And the girl around the corner
Wore too much makeup
That made her cough when she kissed her
But she kissed her anyway
Because that was the thing to do
And at three AM

She tucked herself into bed
Her father snoring soundly
That's why on the back of a brown paper bag
She tried another poem
And called it "Absolutely Nothing"
Because that's what it was really all about.
And she gave herself an A
And a slash on each damned wrist
And she hung it on the bathroom door
Because this time
She didn't think
She could make it to the kitchen.