Memory is a Kaleidoscopic note,
The rope strung through childhood I yoke,
Pull until sunlight bleeds
Across a fuzzy menagerie:
Fists of curls tossed into a world of red clay,
Barcaloungers dusted with cigarette trays
Scowling autumn beasts relieved of teeth.  
(The sky runs long with outstretched arms when you are three)
Or four or more and falling for the promise of alcohol,
Girls with pink breath, and the enthrall
Of a cantilevered highway along cattails and thrush
Memory girds my mind along God’s hushed
Mind