visiting Florida,
Christmas with my parents
a plastic tree
decorated
with sand dollars
and red
ribbons
eating Christmas dinner
listening to Johnny Mathis
and after the Irish coffee,
father with his brandy snifter
in hand
mother and the other
girls
putting away the dishes
the carolers would come,
walking in front of our home
singing “We wish you a
Merry Christmas”
over and over again
we would walk outside
and the cool breeze
almost felt like Christmas
after the hot humid days
and we would stand on our driveway
smile and nod
you could see down the road
all the candles in
paper bags
lining the street
and for a few lights
the bag
burned
2
and we would take
boat rides
off the coast
my parents and their friends
to a tiny island
dad drinking beer
sometimes steering the boat
control
the women sitting together in the shade
worrying about their hair
i would sit at the front
sunglasses, swimsuit and sunburn
feeling the wind
slapping me
in the face
and turning my head
away from the boat
into the wind
away from them
to face it again
docking at a shoreline
everyone jumping out
little bags in their hands
the women go looking for shells
the men go barbecue
after an hour or two
the sandwiches, potato chips eaten
the soda and beer almost
gone
we turn around
and head back
we have conquered
3
and I remember
the coquinas
the little shells
you could find them alive
on the beaches north of the pier in
Naples
going to the beach
I would look for a spot
to find them
they were all my own
they burrowed their way into the
sand
to avoid the light
worming their way away from me
I unearthed a group of coquinas once,
fascinated with their color of
their shells, the way
they moved
before they could hide
I collected them
in a jar,
took them home with me
what did you teach me
what have you taught me to do
is this it
is this what it has become
is this what has become of me
of you of us
and I took them home
I added salt water and sand
but I couldn’t feed them
I realized soon that they
would die
so I let them
Scars Publications and Design
in conjunction with Penny Dreadful Press
first edition
copyright @ 2004 Scars Publications and Design
827 Brian Court, Gurnee IL 60031-3155 USA
Editor@scars.tv
http://scars.tv
and assistance from Freedom & Strength Foundation, Troy Press, Hawthorne Press & Dried Roses Press
printed in the United States of America
writings @ 1979-2004 Janet Kuypers
book design @ 1998-2004 Scars Publications and DesignThis book, as a whole, is fiction, and no correlation should be made between events in the book and events in real life. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher.Information about past books is available upon request through Scars Publications and Design. Materials from the literary magazines “Children, Churches and Daddies” and “Down in the Dirt” are available on line at http://scars.tv, as are .mp3 files, .ra files, .aif files, .au files, .wav files .mov and mpeg files of Kuypers, both reading her work and singing with three sets of musicians.Oeuvre is published through Scars Publications and Design, whose publisher is a member/minister through the Universal Life Church. Scars Publications and Design, the logo and associated graphics @ 1979 - 2004. All rights reserved. Kuypers and Scars Publications and Design welcome your comments, tips, compliments or complaints. Direct all comments and suggestions to the e-mail addresses listed above.The definition of oeuvre (the works of a writer, painter, or the like, taken as a whole) is from the Websters Unabridged 2001 Dictionary.