A Cup Of Coffee

Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines
         he wrote a poem and he called it “Chops” 
because that was the name of his dog  
         and that's what it was all about 
his teacher gave him an A and a gold star
         and his mother hung it on the kitchen door 
and read it to his aunts.
         that was the year Father Tracy took all the kids to the bus  
and he let them sing on the bus  
         and his little sister was born
with tiny nails and no hair 
              and his mother and father kissed alot 
and the girl around the corner sent him a Valentine 
         signed with a row of X’s
and he had to ask his father what the X’s meant  
         and his father always tucked him in bed at night
and was always there to do it

once on a piece of white paper with blue lines
         he wrote a poem
he called it “Autumn”
          because that was the name of the season
and that’s what it was all about
         and his teacher gave him an A
and asked him to write more clearly
         and his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because of the new paint
         and the kids told him
that Father Tracy smoked cigars
         and left butts on the pews
and sometime they would burn holes
         that was the year his sister got glasses
with thick lenses and black frames
         and the girl around the corner laughed
when he asked her to go see Santa Claus
         and the kids told him why
his mother and father kissed a lot
         and his father never tucked him in bed at night
and his father got mad
         when he cried for him to do it
  
once on a paper torn from his notebook

         he wrote a poem  
and he called it “Innocence: A Question”
         because that was the question about his girl  
and that’s what it was all about
         and his professor gave him an A  
and a strange steady look
         and his mother never hung it on the kitchen door  
because he never showed her
         that was the year Father Tracy died  
and he forgot how the end  
         of the Apostles’s Creed went  
and he caught his sister  
          making out on the back porch  
and his mother and father never kissed
         or even talked  
and the girl around the corner 
         wore too much make up
that made him cough when he kissed her
         but he kissed her anyway
because it was the thing to do
         and at 3 am he tucked himself into bed
his father snoring soundly

that’s why on the back of a brown paper bag
         he tried another poem

and he called it “Absolutely Nothing” 
         because that’s what it was really all about

and he gave himself an A
         and a slash on each damned wrist

and he hung it on the bathroom door
         because this time he didn’t think

he could reach to the kitchen.

- The perks of being a wallflower