I AM A GOOD BOY

Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines
I wrote a poem
And I called it 'Chops'
because that was the name of my dog
And that's what it was all about
And my teacher gave me an A
and a gold star

And my Father tucked me in bed that night
And my mother hung it on the kitchen door
and read it to my aunts ,because I was a good boy

That was the year my Father
took all of us to the zoo
And he let us sing on the bus
And my little sister was born
with tiny toenails and no hair
And my mother and father kissed a lot
And the girl around the corner sent me a
Letter signed with a row of X's ,but I stayed a good boy

Once on a piece of white paper with blue lines
I wrote a poem
And I called it 'Autumn'
because that was the name of the season
And that's what it was all about
And my teacher gave me an A
and asked me to write more clearly
And my mother never hung it on the kitchen door because of its new paint ,but I tried to stay a good boy

And my Father smoked cigars
And left butts on the pews
And sometimes they would burn holes
That was the year my sister got glasses
with thick lenses and black frames
And the girl around the corner laughed
when I asked her to go see Santa Claus
And the neighbors told me why
my mother and father kissed a lot
And my father never tucked me in bed at night
And my father got mad
when I cried for him to do it ,and I dreamt of being a good boy

Once on a paper torn from my notebook
I wrote a poem
And I called it 'Innocence: A Question'
because that was the question about me
And that's what it was all about
And my professor gave me an A
and a strange steady look
And my mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because I never showed her and because now I doubted if I was a good boy

That was the year my Father died
And I forgot how the end
of the Apostle's Creed went
And my mother and father never kissed
or even talked after that

And I caught my sister

making out on the back porch
And the girl around the corner
wore too much makeup
That made me cough when I kissed her
but I kissed her anyway
because that was the thing to do
And at 3 am I tucked myself into bed ,but I tried to stay a good boy

That's why on the back of a brown paper bag
I tried another poem
And I called it 'My Destination'
Because that's what it was really all about
And I gave myself a F
and a slash on each damned wrist
And I hung it on the bathroom door
because this time I didn't think
I could reach the kitchen ,just because I was not a good boy.