CANDY CIGARETTES

 

We bought them with the nickels

and pennies of our weekly allowance

at the Little General corner store,

tucked them in our small paper sacks

along with the crystal blue and amber jewels

of hard candy, the Tootsie Rolls,

Red Hots, and aptly named Jawbreakers.

We practiced looking tough, or just thoughtful,

practiced those mannered turns and gestures

of the wrist, flicking imaginary ashes

upon the ground, or into our open palms,

white sticks of sugar dangling from

the corners of our mouths as we spoke,

blew imaginary smoke rings toward

the blue shimmering sky, tapping one end

of the pack against the soft mounds

below our thumbs, the way we had seen

the grownups do. We learned to squint like

the stars of Westerns and war movies,

rolled the crinkling packs into the shoulders

of our thin cotton tees, before setting off

on Big Wheels and bikes, the sand and

broken glass of housing project sidewalks

crunching beneath our wheels, toward a future

already being written for us, up there

amongst the shifting clouds.

SIMPLETON

 

Upon further reflection, I think that I should like

nothing more than to become what was once known

as a simpleton -- that shapeless, shiftless,

unassuming character residing in the corner house

handed down by one kind family member

or another, concerned, naturally, for his wellbeing --

yard wildly overgrown, weeds and wildflowers

interchangeable, shuffling out to the mailbox

in bathrobe and stocking cap, humming something

nondescript and long since out of fashion,

speaking to the neighborhood cats

as old friends and familiars. I would endure

the unintentionally cruel laughter of children,

and the exasperated sighs of adults with

the patience normally reserved for fools and saints.

Never again would I be burdened by others

asking my opinion or insight on any given thing.

I would eat my simple meals and enjoy my

simple pleasures, all based around the simplest

routine; and should I dare to call you friend

or ask your honest advice, you would understand

it to be meant with no ulterior motive

or guile. I would be too simple to explain

my thoughts beyond a nod or shrug of affirmation.

But you, by far the wiser, would have

learned to listen well.

NARRATOR

 

I have always questioned

everything, but now,

with the signature of so

many years becoming

indecipherable, I question

most the one asking

the questions.