CHOPS, by Stephen Chbosky
Once on a yellow piece of paper,
he wrote a poem
and he called it "Chops",
because that was the name of his dog.
The teacher gave him an A
and a gold star
and his mother hung it on the door
and he read it to his Aunts.
That was the year Father Tracy
took all the kids to the Zoo
and let them sing on the bus.
That was the year his little sister was born,
with tiny fingernails and no hair,
and his mother and father kissed a lot.
The girl around the corner sent him a
valentine signed with a row of X's,
and he had to ask his father what the X's meant,
and his father always tucked him in at night,
and was always there to do it.
Once on a piece of white paper with blue lines,
he wrote a poem called "Autumn"
because that was the name of the season
and that's what it was all about
and his teacher gave him an a
and asked him to write more clearly
and his 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
and that was the year his sister got glasses,
with thick lenses and black frames,
and the girl around the corner laughed
when he asked her to go see Santa Claus
and the kids told him why
and his mother and father kissed a lot
and his father never tucked him in at night
and got mad
when he cried for him to do it.
On a piece of paper torn from his notebook,
he wrote a poem
called "Innocence; a Question"
and that's what it was all about
and his professor gave him an a
and a strange steady look
and his mother never hung it on the kitchen door
because he never showed it to her.
That was the year that Father Tracy died
and he forgot how the end
of Apostles Creed went
and he caught his sister
making out on the back porch
and his mother and father never kissed
or even talked
and the girl around the corner
wore too much makeup
that made him cough when he kissed her,
but he kissed her anyway,
because that was the thing to do
and at three AM he tucked himself into bed,
his father snoring soundly.
That's why on the back of a brown paper bag
he tried another poem,
and he called it "Absolutely Nothing"
because that's what it was all about
and he gave himself an a
and a slash on each damned wrist
and he hung it on that bathroom door
because he didn't think
he could reach the kitchen.
