from ROAD TRIPS, poems
BORDENTOWN
This one goes way back,
Back to the morning the doll was unboxed
And the wrapping paper was so shiny
It reflected the bend in the day.
Decades ago, the doorbell rang...
Four eyebrows raised in arches, red lipstick
Covered many white teeth, and a kettle boiled.
The aunts welcomed them and celebrated the
Day they arrived on old Burlington Street.
That old storied house smelled like yesterday’s mothballs
And in the dim light the teen sensed the ghosts of ancestors
Walking through the rooms of the house, a house that
Had many concealed rooms and probably many secrets to hide.
But they sat in the muted foyer decorated in bland colors
And had dark tea and sweet cakes and talked about family
And reminisced about distant relatives
Who at one place in time were so much closer
They could see each other's breath
Falling from tongues.
And then the teen climbed a very steep narrow staircase
To a room with a low ceiling and greeted an old uncle
Who lay in his bed covered by a white chenille worn
Bedspread and he beckoned for her to go closer
Because he did not even know her name.
That was not the first time the teen breathed air
On Burlington Street.
There was an echo from a day long ago
Of a time when the child was so young she had to hold
Her grandmother’s hand when she left that house.
It was a hot summer day when all was still
And everybody walked more slowly.
The quiet sounds on the street soon melted away
As they moved closer to the corner.
They followed the sound of the happy music
Until they were in front of
The Clara Barton School.
The old one room schoolhouse was
Surrounded by a white picket fence.
Until that day parties were a different experience.
On that day it was red ribbons, red balloons
And red velvet cakes that stuck to her teeth
As would, in later years, her aunts’ lipstick.
And inside everybody was playing and dancing
And doing little things that mattered.
They sat on a worn bench by the window and the view
Settled in and with one gasp the intoxicating
Memory of that party was forever set like
Solid stone inside her.
The hard rocks on the pavement during the walk back
Grew envious.
