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XI

Vandal Poem of the Day: July 29, 2021

by Rodney Terich Leonard

An outhouse year.

Someone I love rips rags for tampons.

Someone I love speaks less & less.

Is the sky

ever too pink

to suggest you’re poor?

I am eleven—

having studied them

I introduce myself to Colonel Douglas R. and Jessica K. Smith

husband & wife

of Rockfords Golden Rule Market—

the Smiths of Asprey & Chanel

cashmere & city speech

of Beethoven’s italicized wonderment

I know because I asked

of Black-chauffeured blue Cadillac

& 2 Doberman Pinschers

guarding their brick Federal Colonial.

I am hired.

To neaten & clean,

to stock & cashier—

sometimes I pump gas.

On calendar-circled Saturdays

I utter Eames, rattan, Picasso

bone china, commissary, sparkle, miso

lacquer, Andrew Wyeth, linseed oil

poached, Shakespeare, Melba toast

duvet, Summer’s Eve, Harper Lee

salmon, invoice, Unleaded, Visa.

Slowly

I inch

my family away

from

government

milk & cheese.

from Sweetgum & LightningFind more by Rodney Terich Leonard at the library

Copyright © 2021 Rodney Terich Leonard
Used with the permission of The Permissions Company, LLC on behalf of Four Way Books.

Published in Poems Rodney Terich Leonard

This program is supported in part by a grant from the Idaho Humanities Council, a State-based program of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this (publication, website, exhibit, etc.) do not necessarily represent those of the Idaho Humanities Council or the National Endowment for the Humanities.