In my memory there resides
The teddy bear swing and the
Sandbox in the shade
(Each grain so cold against
My knees as I kneel)
And that mysterious old shed
Strange and alien piece of
Whirling metal atop
Its shingled roof
Standing a silent vigil on
The fringes of our land and home

In my memory there resides
An infinite score of Legos
Scattering the floor like fallen leaves
Scatter the ground outside
Near the crocuses and other flowers
Which have no name in a child’s mind

In my memory there resides
“Porkchop” and
“One for the money, two for the show”
Along with Montessori
And all its wonders
Set out upon trays and shelves and mats

In my memory there resides
Carnivores and herbivores and dinosaurs
Butterfly kisses
And Bible stories
Of hope and damnation
Spyro the Dragon, Sonic the Hedgehog
A row of dusty shotglasses, never used
But admired for their designs

In my memory there resides
Woody and Buzz
And infinity and beyond
Plastic figures
Each with their own name,
Their own story
An absence of jeans
And an abundance of sweats

In my memory there resides
Nana and Papa and
A myriad of nameless faces
Lost amidst the haze of time
Once friends
Now only broken fragments
Of bygone memory


In my memory there resides
Summers and winters
Of careless bliss
Unhindered, unbothered by
Worldly troubles
An atmosphere of absolute
Love
Absolute
Joy
Shattered by a home which
Unravels at the seams
Once knitted by love
Now slowly unstitched
By the strife of reality
And the realization of truths

In my memory there resides
Kielbasa and pierogies
Great Grandma in her enigma
Of unfathomable age
That rusting and bent swing-set
Upon which so many
Careless afternoons were spent

In my memory there resides
These things
And in my memory alone
The innocence of a world lost
The scales which covered
My eyes as a child
Torn away with violent abandon
By a world uncaring
These pictures-
These pieces of me-
Locked away within
My memories
Worn and faded
By time’s weathering tides