goodbye, girl!
LITR0110B: Poetry I
Date: 2/2025
Assignment: Map a place (real or imagined), a memory, a dream, the self...it's up to you.
goodbye, girl!
Every book I read, I imagine that it takes place
here
with the protagonist sitting at a ceramic table that’s
littered with Italian fruits
(both real and painted).
Her foot softly caresses its cold stone
legs as she asks her mom if she really
has to wear a cardigan
on top of her Hannah Montana t-shirt
to church.
Aesthetically and emotionally
this place
is home,
well,
not her own but her grandmother’s
(and grandfather’s, but he would be happy anywhere
with a leather loveseat and the Times).
She
(once her grandmother but now the protagonist)
perches by this table of bounty
She
cuts cake for the children
She
cries in frustration when the turkey burns
and She
brushes and plaits the downy hair of the girl
(once the protagonist but now the grandmother)
who sits beside her.
They wish to stay
here
in
this kitchen
in
this warmth
but there’s kids to corral and hymnals to prep
and oranges to peel and dishes to wash
and goodbyes to say and tears to weep
and this place can’t be this place without her
so what’s the point in even bringing up the chairs from the basement.