Fourth Grade Autobiography

We live in Kentucky.

We have two trees in our front yard and the stump of another in the back.

My favorite things are pools, cooked carrots,

and the book Where the Red Fern Grows. Its words are

the only company I keep.

Rain is my first favorite soundtrack.

Every pair of drops are a new race, down

my bedroom window. I am afraid

of the dark and of snakes and of not being listened to.

Chalk-covered sidewalks surround us,

they feel like a barrier between me and

everyone else. I step over all the doodles like I do the cracks.

I think I have to believe in God.

I have a brother and a “half” sister.

She feels more like a whole. We have a dog named

Sam II, named after our first dog (Sam I). We have a grey

plastic swing set. I don’t know that I’ll miss it when a

much larger wood one is substituted in next year.

But I do. I flip the seat of the swing over to dump out

touch the clouds. Then I fly. My grass-stained bare feet touch

the clouds. I think about soccer games.

About telling myself I’m brave enough

to be the goalie this game. That I’m fast enough

to beat out the green jerseys to the ball.

My mom is always there.

My dad says he wants to be, but isn’t.

I don’t know what that means.

__________

This poem was written in mimic-style after reading Donika Kelly's poem of the same name. The original poem can be found in Kelly's debut collection, Bestiary.