The House on Fountain Ave.
- To Susan, Leon and Bruce Freimour
In our mind
we never renovate
our childhood home.
Our innocence
is preserved
in stone.
All that food
the chickpeas, tuna sandwiches,
the wonder
of Wonder Bread
the peanut butter
that stuck to the
the roofs of our mouths
like a gooey pavement.
The mother crooning
"Is this a house or hotel,
yes or no?"
The father barking out
"British Petroleum!"
from his Wall Street Journal,
he always told us the suit
makes the man.
We wondered
about the father's
book " Denial of Death"
which seemed to be a sacred
text to him
and we wondered
whether we could.
In our minds we
still schvitz from the hot summer
without the nefarious smoke
from Canada
no mournful wisps
will ever cloud
our childhood home.
- © Doug Holder 2023
Doug Holder is the co-president of the NewEngland Poetry Club and the founder of the Ibbetson Street Press. Holder holds an MLA from Harvard University in American and English Literature. "The Doug Holder Papers Collection" is housed at the University of Buffalo. In 2015 he received a citation from the Massachusetts State Legislature for his work as a poet, professor, editor, publisher and educator.
1 comment:
Is this a house or hotel? - that's what mom would say. A very lively poem, a good poem! Love the title.
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