The Grandfather Clock in the Living Room

Circles in the driveway and bike rides up Biddle Avenue

Post office stickers and staked claims on parks in the afternoon

Solving puzzles of newspaper airplanes right out of school

Masking tape yellowing the dining room’s bumpy lanes

Washrags to foreheads, onscreen explorers ...those sick days

Lighting up a room with strings of safety when Christmas came

Belting out Crosby baritones from your A.M. porch radio

Lawn chairs two blocks down for parades and a wagoned fireworks show

Promises of lined-up boys to build self-confidence while he hid her smokes

Frisbee bases loaded with tennis balls and Country Crock lemonade

Learning red card games and tomato gardens being sprayed

Same colour van at our sports, McDonald’s, and at the pick-up gate

Toast with frosted flakes on a paper towel in the mornings

Black coffee is being prepared at 8 am, while it is pouring outside

Paint stains on his shirt and his watch tell time’s adorning

Listening to our teachings while making popsicle jokes

My grandma needed a hospital, and they rushed to go

Returning home for lunch and telling him that he had to mow

Grass-stained bike tyres are forever begging for air, long overdue

Nowadays, Huffy lies fallen on the harsh concrete ground

Because that’s how the driveway took you