Lovely Things

Lots of bricks and grassy hills

And gnarled, knowing trees

And kids who walk alone with music

And kids who walk in threes

Cracked old sofas out on porches

Shoes hung on power lines

And the names and names and names and names

On park memorial shrines

There are cans and there are bottles

That grow on all the bushes

There are rocking chairs and welcome mats

There are bars, and there are churches

There are all the red things in autumn

And all the green in summer

And the one boy in the dining hall

Who reminds me of my brother

Twinkling little fire hazards

Strung up in all our rooms

And laptop screens and take-out lunches

Complete with take-out spoons

There are all these lovely things

With their lovely sense of calm

And though I see them every day

I’d just like to see my mom.