a few simple things

i was born in July of 1987///

i'm reaching back...

past the vague recollection of my 6th birthday

trying to grab it and pull it in;

the memory as far back as i can find

between dusty stacks of worn out film.

i see them in grainy super 8 footage.

i only remember a few simple things\\\

i'm posing for a picture

at the end of a long humid day,

full of sun baked lawn and cool shade porch;

i'm full of tee-ball and bbq.

my wise uncle is kind to me

2nd cousins are fast with fair hair.

my world is unfocused in primary colors.

i see mostly the greens of the grass,

the red in my wiffle ball and bat,

the yellow hat my cousin wore,

the baby gray-blue of the kansas sky///

eastman kodak released super 8 film in 1965\\\

an over exposed shot of my mother

sunspots shoot between our faces.

i remember how she used to wear glasses

hair long across her back!

delicate dark photographs in our skin,

freckled faces in the summer.