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We sneak into the church after
Mass has ended and swipe bulletins
to bring home later and pretend
that we went to worship
where we always light candles

I forget my lessons from catechism
yet forever smell the frankincense
Leftover at the alter of this devotion
and see the names of boys who were
someone’s older brother or one’s friends
printed with such precision and clarity

Funerals occur with flags draped over caskets
we go to play in the park or up at the corner
for we are children on the brink of adolescence
though not far from the convent is a schoolyard
where sometimes there is an altercation

Across the street my mother is calling out to me
where along the blue sky’s periphery
I see plumes of smoke dark and ominous
shouting a reminder that war is never ending
and can be fought on any type of battlefield

We walk down the aisles of the supermarket
my mother and me in search of treats
sifting through items in this lap of luxury
for packages to send to the boys overseas
and I develop a habit of waving to firemen

1/15/07