by Holly Day
"Reunion" -- "Dolly" -- "Nancy"
Reunion
Grandpa
wheezes when he talks,
when he walks
but everyone tells him
he looks great, he hasn't
aged a bit.
Maybe it's my memory that's
fucked up.
You get used
to the idea
that your organs are fixed in place
inside your body,
and you'll never have t o worry
about them breaking down
or coming
out. My doctor says
that people
"are just big machines with
recyclable parts"
and slips a donor card in with my
prescription.
Grandpa still
has all his parts
with a couple of dents in the important ones
but
he's tough.
He just needs new jokes.
I wonder if it
would really matter
if I could prolong some old guy's life
saved his
story for yet another audience
or should the old give way to the new
like in the old Wild Kingdom movies--
the vultures in the white lab coats
are building a
coffin
in my living room, squinting at me
through
their diseased eyes
They won't get
me.
I ripped up my donor card on the night Grandpa
died.
Dolly
come on, now,
little girl
you can't really be cool until you've been
victimized,
sodomized--don't you wanna be
a star?
come on, now,
honey
you'll thank me for giving you a reason
for truancy, bad grades,
teenage pregnancy
maybe even a little preteen touchy-feely of
your
own.
I've got your excuse right here.
Come on over and
sit on my
lap.
Nancy
One two many
bottles and the lights were too dim
and we needed at least one more candle
to fake sobriety
you cried in my lap and you didn't even know me
you
told me your dreams
and I didn't even care.
Your words
open new wounds in my head each night
it was idiotic to play along
but
I did
knowing too well you'd forget me by sunrise
while alcohol keeps
forcing me to remember
my pretty
stupid child
I won't even
pretend I was looking for anything
special, just a warm body I could
pretend was mine
even for one night--I meant everything I said to you
except that I liked you hair better when it was blond
you don't even
remember the last time. I'll
never forget.
