18366 Rio Oro Street

We paint the door Orange
Warning of our plagues
A house full of omens

A black cat
A white dog
Crying cicadas
A missing father

She gathers us
Into the car
In a hurry
She is always in tears

Gills growing under eyes

We drive
Stop on a bridge
Her cries are so heavy

She breaks my bones
We turn around
Drive back

Stand outside the orange door
While the cat rubs against her leg

1425 Williams Street

My grandmother had
Records of bird songs

But no birds.

My grandmother had
An altar to Mary

Would burn incense
Tell me that the smell

Was a prayer to Jesus.
I would kneel and say

My Hail Mary’s. Would
Ask the Virgin to

Help my mother. My
Grandmother would

Lay next to me in bed
And rub my stomach.

“You’re my little
Tony” she would say,

“Nobody loves you
As much as grandma”

I would close my eyes
And imagine birds singing

Louder and louder.

1356 Mountain Glenn Cir

Piles of dirt
Tiny mountains
Hiding in patches of snow
Good for sledding when the
Storms come

This is our first new house
A blank of wood
Sawdust and 22 shells
Litter the floor of the basement.

We live here a very short time
But long enough

For two still born kittens
To be eaten by their mother.

9144 Columbine

The first thing my father does;
Paints the door orange.
He does it for her.
Her favorite color is yellow.

I remember the night they took her away.

Police tape wrapped around the house;
Outlines of where we were supposed to be.

The hospital is a long way away.
My cousin takes care of us.
She is young and pretty
And the thought of her

Gives me an erection.
My mother is a long way away.
Outside my friends and I

Play hide and seek

copyright 2006 c.a. leibow