Tuesday 18 November 2014

TO SANTA CLAUS AND LITTLE SISTERS

It is one of my favorite poems written by a fourteen or fifteen year old boy as his suicide note 

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
And his teacher gave him an A
and a gold star 
And his mother hung it on the kitchen door 
and read to his aunts
That was the year Father Tracy 
took all the kids to the zoo
And he let them sing on the bus
And his little sister was born 
with tiny toenails and no hair
And his mother and father kissed a lot
And the girl around the corner sent him a
Valentine signed with X's 
and he had 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
And he called it "Autumn"
because that was the name of the season
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 its new paint
And the kids told him 
that father Tracy smoked cigars 
And left butts on the pews
And sometimes 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 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 and steady look
And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because he never showed her
That was the year that Father Tracy died
and he forgot how the end
of the Apostle'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 makeup
That made him cough when he kissed her
but he kissed her anyway
because that was the thing to do
And at three A.M 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 the kitchen


4 comments:

  1. I just love this poem so damn much... simply touches my heart....

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  2. Wow it's so nice. I think i'm gonna add it to my collection. Thumbs up for this

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