For Granted

Less is more was starting to strike my fancy

like the idea of candy

and the way multicolored lollipops made all the difference in a day's mood

But I was starting to resent Tuesdays

the day that all the skyscrapers went up

and the clouds were blocked

and the slow death of the Radio Flyer fell upon us all

and the way I stopped smiling at the woods

Sometimes

and only at night

I think myself to sleep

with images of her candy drawer

and the diamond holes that we could see through

and the smell of the meal that came before it

This is the point when the mare would infiltrate the hallways of our house

wafting quickly under my door

and into my bunk bed

reminding me of the early part of 1986

when attention was paid in an unexpected and unwanted way

And I started to fear the lightning

for no good reason

just cognizance that this trepidation

would meet me here scores from now

with a smirk

telling me that greed ended it all