Saturday, March 11, 2006

For your consideration

Flattering myself


My right front tooth has a tiny chip
I fell from a bicycle I attempted to ride
despite its flat tire

My lip has a bump of scar tissue
from that same day, no helmet
Face first onto asphalt in hot hot July

I was thirteen, but it wasn’t recklessness, I just wanted to get back
Put the cantaloupe and milk and eggs into the refrigerator
Instead, they splattered on the pavement

rind and seed
yolk and shells
a little sliver of tooth

none of it
could have been salvaged anyway,
So I got up and walked back to my grandparent’s house

I left my bike laying on the path
front wheel idly spinning
and waited for someone to come home

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Becky

Your blog is absolutely great. The poem about the chipped tooth, cantaloupe and eggs is one of the best I have ever read. You have an astounding talent. The big question is what to do with it.

Big Daddy G

Anonymous said...

What is it about summer when you are thirteen? There is something about the summers when you are no longer a child but not yet an adult. . . they have a mythical quality to them. . . almost like they happened in a dream.

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