Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines
she wrote a poem
And she called it "Chops"
because that was the name of her dog

And that's what it was all about
And her teacher gave him an A
and a gold star
And her mother hung it on the kitchen door
and read it to her aunts
That was the year Father Tracy
took all the kids to the zoo

And he let them sing on the bus
And her little sister was born
with tiny toenails and no hair
And her mother and father kissed a lot
And the girl around the corner sent her a
Valentine signed with a row of X's

and she had to ask her father what the X's meant
And her 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
she wrote a poem
And she called it "Autumn"

because that was the name of the season
And that's what it was all about
And her teacher gave her an A
and asked her to write more clearly
And her 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 her sister got glasses
with thick lenses and black frames
And the girl around the corner laughed

when she asked her to go see Santa Claus
And the kids told her why
her mother and father kissed a lot
And her father never tucked her in bed at night
And her father got mad
when she cried for him to do it.


Once on a paper torn from her notebook
she wrote a poem
And she called it "Innocence: A Question"
because that was the question about her girl
And that's what it was all about
And her Teacher gave him an A

and a strange steady look
And her mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because she never showed her
That was the year that Father Tracy died
And she forgot how the end
of the Apostle's Creed went

And she caught her sister
making out on the back porch
And her mother and father never kissed
or even talked
And the girl around the corner
wore too much makeup
That made her cough when she kissed her

but she kissed her anyway
because that was the thing to do
And at three a.m. she tucked herself into bed
her father snoring soundly

That's why on the back of a brown paper bag
she tried another poem

And she called it "Absolutely Nothing"
Because that's what it was really all about
And she gave herself an A
and a slash on each ****** wrist
And he hung it on the bathroom door
because this time she didn't think

she could reach the kitchen.”