THE FOUNDATION

At one day old, the grandfather said
the one thing that can never
be taken from you,
no matter what happens,
is your education, and this
is how it all began;
the stones for his foundation.

At two, the father left,
taking the door, ripping it from its hinges,
but the child stayed.

At six, the mother had her new man
nail the windows shut so the boy
could not dream or ask
too many questions about the door.

At eight, they wallpapered over the
cracked and mildewed sheet rock,
rolled out light blue and navy shag carpet
to hide splintered and rotten floorboards .

Neighbors found it all good and
when the guests arrived they
fell for it too.
And the sounds of a hundred clocks
ticked every second away and chimed
on the hour making them lose sight.

The apartment was cold in the winter
and even colder in the summer.

No longer did he have to share his bedroom
with a younger sister, since the pantry
was good enough for him; he didn’t complain.
Besides he is a boy ,no need for heat,
sunlight from windows, or a closet.
After all the whole room is a closet anyway.
A trap door was there, leading to a crawl space,
dirt floor, water pipes, construction garbage
not a place to hide, no way out.

At 13, he moved to the second floor when
more kids arrived and there was no place to put them.
The apartment was warm in the winter
and even warmer in the summer.

At 18, after all that schooling,
he sawed a hole in the roof like a cartoon character on Channel 11.
like a little black roach he crawled out onto the highway
where he grew some wings and finally flew to freedom.
When he returned to the apartment building
years later with his own son, no one was home,
the building had burned to the ground ,
but the foundation was still there.