Christmas evening
waiting for take out in the parking lot of a restaurant
called Chinese Restaurant.
next to a place called 30 Dollar Massage.
Shipley Donuts sign winks,
beckons from across the street.
My daughter lit up
back when she was face to face
with the display case,
palms to glass like she’s in solitary
surveying the yard.
Snag a two-top by the window and
witness my baby girl before the advent of shame and anxiety
divide her attention
between a coconut cream and the Sunday morning sidewalk.
Now she can look the cashier in the eye,
black coffee
one glazed, to go.
80 dollars worth of Chinese take out is enough to choke a pony.
(see, there you go again, your
degenerate
obsession with
tainting cute words with violence. ) But,
since we’re here:
The Choking Pony: a bar
Choking pony: a euphemism
Choking Ponies: a play about the night Tracy Letts and Sam Shepard got drunk and screwed
The Choking Ponies: a three piece bar band from Ann Arbor that opened for The Old 97’s when they came through back in ‘94.
Anyway, I drive thru Shipley’s and order a dozen mixed
she is still 16 when I get home
accurately translates my accommodating attitude as fear
a whinging need to be liked
my inability to say no, and the troubling relativity of my values
wreak collateral damage on her delicate personal life.
an eruption no donut’s gonna fix
next to a place called 30 Dollar Massage.
Shipley Donuts sign winks,
beckons from across the street.
My daughter lit up
back when she was face to face
with the display case,
palms to glass like she’s in solitary
surveying the yard.
Snag a two-top by the window and
witness my baby girl before the advent of shame and anxiety
divide her attention
between a coconut cream and the Sunday morning sidewalk.
Now she can look the cashier in the eye,
black coffee
one glazed, to go.
80 dollars worth of Chinese take out is enough to choke a pony.
(see, there you go again, your
degenerate
obsession with
tainting cute words with violence. ) But,
since we’re here:
The Choking Pony: a bar
Choking pony: a euphemism
Choking Ponies: a play about the night Tracy Letts and Sam Shepard got drunk and screwed
The Choking Ponies: a three piece bar band from Ann Arbor that opened for The Old 97’s when they came through back in ‘94.
Anyway, I drive thru Shipley’s and order a dozen mixed
she is still 16 when I get home
accurately translates my accommodating attitude as fear
a whinging need to be liked
my inability to say no, and the troubling relativity of my values
wreak collateral damage on her delicate personal life.
an eruption no donut’s gonna fix
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