Lawrence Hall: Rod McKuen at a Garage Sale

Lawrence Hall

Unknown Saint – 25 Cents

A little plastic statue of a saint

(In context, am I permitted to say “tchotchke?”)

A woman in white with a flowered crown

And a tiny crucifix in her tiny hand

She stood between a broken-bladed pocketknife

And an HO gauge caboose without wheels

There was a Barbie with her arms ripped off

And an I LIKE IKE button from 1952

The little saint now stands upon my shelf

Gently to remind me of my better self

Monday, January 17, 2022

Lawrence Hall

poeticdrivel.blogspot.com

Rod McKuen at a Garage Sale

We don’t know who Baby Booger and Tommie were

They sent each other notes and underlines

And colored slips of paper from page to page

In Someone’s Shadow (“Hardbacks 25 Cents”)

The exuberance of adolescent arcs

Reminds us of our long-ago callow youth

When we thought we had discovered something

In secretly sharing free verse in home room

And we had – indulging in forbidden lines

Is still good therapy for being sixteen

Lawrence Hall