“We ironed fall leaves

between wax-paper sheets.

We melted crayons into candles

and froze Kool-Aid into popsicles.

We poked cloves into oranges. We grew roots

on sweet potatoes tooth-picked in water.

We taped our broken glasses together

and shut up. We made shoe-box

dioramas with Play-Doh and modeling clay.

We cut snowflakes from folded paper

and hung them with kite string.

We made newspaper kites

and imagined they could fly.

We shaped tin foil into fake coins

for our church envelopes.

We covered love bites with Kool-Aid.

We filled liquor bottles with holy water.

We hid our stash in beanbag chairs.

We drove to Ohio for drugs

and rolled back our father’s odometer.

We mounted our girlfriends

on basement pool tables, clacking balls together

for ears upstairs.

We drew lies with chalk

and the truth with tar.

We lit our hair on fire

to cover the smell.”