so then allan & i went to the drive in
in hoboken mom looked after the kids
and while we were filling up on gas
and getting candy along the way
i bought a pack of flashbulbs & a pint
of four roses at about the same time
allan was tipping the attendant and telling
him go nowhere stories about the war
back then he d talk about how family stores
like my dad s were repositories of memories
yet to be made that each bar of soap sold
suit made to fit kitchen set displayed
& dollar tendered was in anticipation
of a life as yet unburdened by collapse
that photographs too fulfilled this need
to anthologize and make tangible the fleeting
so when i tell you the picture we watched
wasn t very interesting that s because it wasn t
some old thing by hitchcock about a man
who kills a woman and all the suspense that
that involves hardly worth the celluloid
the picture i d take would focus on a crescent
of buicks fords & cadillacs crouched
around a hovering still life of the moon
wire strung lanterns strung low over
a picket fence behind a silver screen
the night sky burned black into the foreground
& allan asleep beside me dreaming diane