He had a little piece of paper with green lines

He wrote a poem, and he called it "Chops"

Because that was the name of his dog

And that's what it was all about

And his teacher gave him a name, and a gold star

And his mother hung it on the kitchen door and read it to his aunts

That was the year Father Tracy took all the kids to the zoo

And he let them sing on the bus

And his little sister was born

With tiny toenails and no hair

And his mother and father kissed a lot

The girl around the corner sent him a valentine signed with a row of X's

And he had to ask his father what the X's meant

And his father always tucked him in bed at night

And was always there to do it

Once on a piece of white paper with blue lines he wrote a poem

And he called it "Autumn"

Because that was the name of the season

And that's what it was all about

His teacher gave him an A, and asked him to write more clearly

And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door because of its new feet

And the kids told him that Father Tracy smoked cigars

And left butts in the pews

And sometimes they would burn holes

That was the year his sister got glasses

With thick lenses and black frames

And the girl around the corner laughed when he asked her to go see Santa Claus

And the kids told him why his mother and father kissed a lot

And his father never tucked him in bed at night

And his father got mad and he cried for him to do it

Once on a paper torn from his notebook he wrote a poem

And he called it "Innocence, No Question"

Because that was the question about his group

And that's what it was all about

And his professor gave him an A, and a strange steady look

And his mother never hung it on the kitchen door because he never said no

That was the year that Father Tracy died

And he forgot how the end of The Apostles read went

And he caught his sister making out on the back porch

And his mother and father never kissed or even talked

And the girl around the corner wore too much makeup that made him cough when he kissed her

But he kissed her anyway

Because that was the thing to do

And at three AM he tucked himself in bed

His father's story sounded

That's why on the back of a brown paper bag he tried another poem

And he called it "Absolutely Nothing"

Because that's what it was really all about

And he gave himself an A, and a slash on each damn word

And he hung it on the bathroom door

Because this time he didn't sleep