Hand me an
apple and an orange
perhaps a
champagne bottle,
full of
course. For my party
you can take a
few pictures
of the things I
will wish to remember
and please
make a cake that remains uncrushed.
So I can keep
it in my bag uncrushed
and when I reach
for my pen or pencil, the orange
Happy Birthday
icing will stare me in the face and I will remember
You. And when
I reach for my perfume bottle
the little
rabbit and squirrel pictures
will dance
around my fingers, like animals that like to party.
And next year
when nobody comes to my party
and my heart
is crushed
then I will
remember the pictures
you took last
year in the tungsten orange
light as you
gulped off the last of the champagne bottle.
I will smile
and remember.
The next day
you will call to say you just remembered
my birthday.
Ask if I had a good party,
that you are
busy now with baby bottles
and making
your new husband strawberry crush
pie. You will
tell me you’ve picked orange
paint for the
nursery, and you want to see the pictures.
You will hang
up before I say I have no pictures,
no memories
made to remember
because you
were too busy picking orange
paint, too
busy to party
to make some
uncrushed
cake and
finish the champagne bottle.
Only
interested in baby bottles
and baby
pictures
and crushed
baby food to
remember
my party,
to hand me an
apple or an orange.
So ill bottle
it up and try not remember
burn the
pictures of last year’s party
you crushed my
heart choosing paint that’s orange.
