- Keith Banner
The Holy
some people
like this woman
i remembered today
from my childhood
this
carolyn carlisle
anderson, in
1973
some people
pull you into myth
just
because
they exist
she and her elderly
husband louie
their son paul
(they adopted paul
when he was 9
troubled
youth, etc.)
louie owned a gas station
and they lived across
the street from us
on school street
went to the
same church
landmark bible
carolyn's
super-red deluxe
beauty-salon
hair permed into
a dove's nest
she worked at
the holiday inn
cleaning
rooms
sometimes cooking
for the
buffet, bringing us cottage-cheese
containers
of leftover
green-beans, mashed potatoes,
gravy
from that buffet
and when louie
had the heart attack
they woke me up
to tell me
5-years-old
i guess i needed
to know
right?
carolyn with
pancake makeup
and billy graham
emotions
and paul
in 1975
crazy and mean
and taking drugs
louie could keep
him under
control but
carolyn she
loved him too much
and she was always
coming over
with leftovers
from holiday inn
always trying to
be
nice
and then there's
paul
getting killed in florida 10 years later
after he ran away
carolyn
had nothing
and yet she kept on
with the leftovers
having a job was very important
to her
but paul's bedroom
in that house
damn
that big poster
of led zepelin's
houses of the holy
all those naked
kids climbing
wanting
to get to the top
carolyn
saying to my mom
apologetically
embarrased
isn't that nasty?
i
wish he knew better
i really do
