I like that high shelf, too, Max. And the implied child still there with it all...
Doug
On Dec 11, 2013, at 12:52 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> The Infant's Bowl
>
> To the hinged tray on my high chair
> Mother brought my very own bowl
> and my very own spoon.
>
> Warm butter glowed melting
> into' the mashed potato mixed
> with parsnip or carrot.
>
> Bib in place, I practiced the art
> of spooning and mouth filling.
> One reward of eating it all up
>
> was praise, the other was
> seeing the picture revealed:
> a fairy tale house, at its door
>
> a child like me, welcoming
> his guests The Fairies.
> I learned the printed rhyme:
>
> 'If the fairies came to tea,
> how very jolly that would be -
> They'd say Hello, I'd say Come in,
> and then the fun would all begin.'
>
> Later, I was told about my
> infant speech: 'would all de-din'.
> Later, I saw how Fairies were a con.
>
> Later, I saw the artwork
> was puerile kitsch.
> From a lost England,
>
> what's more, doubly false
> to my New Zealand.
> Later, I noted my spoon (lost)
>
> had worn and worn away
> the bowl's decorations.
> For safe keeping,
>
> it went to a high shelf
> at the back of my mind.
> It waited for another infant.
>
> Rhyme still entranced,
> the tum-te-tum-te-tum
> iambic rhythm sang me.
Douglas Barbour
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