Winter Sky: New and Selected Poems, 1968-2008

Poetry for Children

127 f r o m c l u b : g r a n d d a u g h t e r p o e m s p o e t r y f o r c h i l d r e n She asked me did I have poems for children. They were doing poetry. And would I write one that had her name in it. I don’t think I do have any poems second graders would listen to. Mine are too old or not lively enough or they might mention something they are not supposed to hear about, like the girl Claudia, ten, watching television, who said Mom, I am not old enough to watch this. But now maybe this could turn into something they might like because I am remembering Claudia’s younger brother Rob went to a museum and saw Lucy, the name scientists have for the early almost human ape woman they found and reconstructed how she looked millions of years ago. She is hairy and naked and stooped over with her hairy breasts hanging down and she is carrying a bone for a tool, • • • 128 f r o m c l u b : g r a n d d a u g h t e r p o e m s and she is about fifty feet high on the museum wall and Rob sees her and can’t stop looking and he keeps saying as they’re walking around other places, I can’t stop thinking about Lucy the ape woman. Mom, I can’t Get her out of my mind. Then he’s quiet for a long time, and then he says, I bet she was pretty for her time. Now two Rob stories that cannot be read to second graders. Rob tells his mother about a song other children sing on the school bus. It has the f-word in it. I beep it. Every time it comes up I beep it. Do you know what it means? Yeah, sex. Some older boys must have taught it to them. He is quiet. Don’t you think they must have? OK, OK. I wrote that song. But I beep the f-word when I hear it. Rob’s a songwriter and a film critic. Once they were in a movie lobby in the popcorn line. Rob was fiddling with himself in the pants area. Honey, do you need to • • • 129 f r o m c l u b : g r a n d d a u g h t e r p o e m s go to the bathroom? No. I’m just getting my penis ready for the movie. The teenage couples behind them collapse with laughter for maybe the most telling cinematic observation I have ever heard. This page intentionally left blank ...