Red Dolly
Lennox is a small unincorporated
town just beneath the flight path
of the planes heading into LAX.
I lived there in my early childhood
with my parents in what seemed
like a much simpler time.
We lived in a small two bedroom house
with a small porch and
a tree in our front yard.
The other families that lived there
were much like us,
poor recent immigrants
from mexico or other spanish
speaking parts of the western world.
It is a time in my life where
few memories remain.
I can remember one evening
my father taking out the trash
to the street and going back with him
to the garage
as he pulled out
a small red dolly.
He asked me to stand on it.
I stood on it and held on to the bars
on either side as my father tilted it back.
My little heart was thrilled
that I was doing something
like this with my daddy.
I wasn't fearful,
I was trusting and felt good
about myself and our world
because of such a simple thing.
Yesterday
as I was pulling out of the driveway
at our home in Hawthorne
I looked over and saw
my nearly three year old
baby brother Tyler
standing and holding onto
the same red dolly
that I once had,
looking as happy and pure
as I must have that evening
so many years ago.
------------------------------------
We are the children of flawed people
who did their best to show us
what life is.
You are a wounded bird
looking for a branch to rest upon.
Did I actually find myself thinking about you
not in such base terms
but in a manner to express sympathy
towards you and how you are
as I sat there holding you?
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