The Boys by Elizabeth
Snader
I hate it when they all
get together
And the chitter chatter
they make now
Sounds like dogs hungry
for a fat steak.
And maybe they stop and
think, “Who are we?”
And go to their
friend’s house during mid day
And smoke pot and drink
booze and play dumb games.
They will always be the
ones to say, ”Yo”
And smoke you a bowl
and help you with shit
Even though we are going our separate ways now.
Although we still find
time for Mario Kart
I still try to remember
those old days
When we snuck around
booze and never told.
Being together again
can be strange
-Remembering a time
when it was new-
Realizing that those
days came and went.
Going back to familiar
places now
Can be bittersweet and
strange sometimes, now,
Remembering all those
things we did then.
All the boys together,
causing trouble,
Bringing the rest of us
together, still,
Even after four years
of being friends.
We can still get
together and laugh forever
And smoke and drink and
get hyphy forever
And never look back to
think of future days
I remember- I remember
the times we had
As vibrant as the flame
of a lighter
Giving off light and
heat for us to use.
Being with them takes
me back to those days,
Long and far behind us
all- never to leave me-
Loving
all the time we have ever had.
The
Aunts
I like it when they get together
and talk in voices that sound
like apple trees and grape vines,
and some of them wear hats
and go to Arizona in the winter,
and they all like to play cards.
They will always be the ones
who say “It is time to go now,”
even as we linger at the door,
or stand by the waiting cars, they
remember someone—an uncle we
never knew—and sigh, all
of them together, like wind
in the oak trees behind the farm
where they grew up—a place
I remember—especially
the hen house and the soft
clucking that filled the sunlit yard.
Poem
copyright ©2010 by Joyce Sutphen from her most recent book of poetry, First Words, Red Dragonfly Press, 2010. Poem reprinted by
permission of Joyce Sutphen and the publisher.
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