Books, Balls, and Candy by Terry Allen

 

Mael BALLAND

Books, Balls, and Candy

I managed to fly from Minnesota

to Florida, getting in after midnight

to be with my mother

in the hospital where she was dying,

and after she passed, I spent a week

alone in her condo, going through

everything and getting it ready

to sell, and in doing so, I discovered

a drawer full of this and that

and whatnot, the bits and pieces,

the memorabilia of a lifetime,

and in that drawer was a lock,

a small vintage Victorian

brass and iron word letter

combination padlock 

with pull sideways action,

a padlock with 4 turning barrels

that would spell the password,

READ, which I recalled

quite clearly from my childhood,

when my mother told me stories

about how the lock had traveled

from Britain to Australia

and now with her to America,

and read was one of the first words

I learned to spell, and it’s no wonder

really that the first Christmas

when I was old enough to ask

for what I wanted from Santa,

I said I’d like to have books,  balls, and candy.

(First published in Boundless Anthology)

© Terry Allen

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Terry Allen

Terry Allen is an Emeritus Professor of Theatre Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he taught acting, directing, and playwriting. He directed well over a hundred plays during his thirty-eight years of teaching. A few favorites include: Candide, Macbeth, Death of a Salesman, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, and The Threepenny Opera. He is the author of five poetry collections: Monsters in the Rain, Art Work, Waiting on the Last Train, Rubber Time, and Preserving the Past for the Present.

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