What I remember

This is a poem that grew out of a writing assignment we had in class, 'where I'm from.' I didn't quite feel like writing that, so I wrote this instead.

What I Remember


Digging that hole out back
our big plans
it was going to have electric lights
and an elevator
we got tired of the pickaxe.

Surrounded by siblings
never alone when you want to be
sharing a bedroom with four sisters
is something to brag about, anyway.

Making a paper statue of liberty costume.

Moving to Ohio
my just older sister and I
riding with Dad in the bee truck
eating Doritos and white bread
reading each sign as soon
as we could see it.

Running around like barefoot heathens
our legs the kind of tan that washes off

Hauling branches in the rain
gutting chickens; I always hated
the warm, slimy feel of innards
sliding through my fingers
once my brother squished something
just right and it squawked
Remember the time the turkeys
tried to fly away with him?

Hours spent making a playhouse of logs
dreaming up fantasy bedrooms and lives
my just-older sister my best friend,
sometimes

My first job, just like everyone else
picking strawberries
eating the best ones
the strawberries in the store
are never good enough now

The county fair, every year
without fail
4-H projects galore

Church on Sundays

Tramping through fields barefoot

The scent of straw always brings me back,
the barn, its lofts so full
climb up on the rafters and jump down
eating peaches in there made them
taste straw-dusty
the reason I’d never eat in the bathroom.

Writing stories on dad’s computer
a ten minute explanation of file storage
playing with photoshop with Jeff

Riding bikes on back roads
beside fields of corn and soybeans

Warm summer evenings of fireflies
cut grass and barbeque