Poem: Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you!

Poem: Robotic Birthday Dread

Back in the pre-internet age, the big department stores would send out huge meaty picture catalogs. I would awkwardly flip through the gobs of pages and find the treasure map I was looking for: The toy section. There were only about a dozen pages dedicated to toys and games and so I would carefully strategize as to which toy would be the best to request. Most years I wanted G.I.Joe's. Not the old school doll Joe's but the small plastic type that was the rage in the eighties. The kind of Joe that would fall into pieces when you shot them with a pellet gun at that crucial point in the chest where the screw connects the rubber band.

One year was different. While looking through the catalog, I saw a toy of sorts that was different. It eerily looked back at me in the catalog as if it knew what I was thinking. It was a Charlie McCarthy Ventriloquist Dummy. It was the first toy I had that was completely my own. My brothers (being normal) had no interest in it. That summer, I carried Charlie everywhere and practiced. I read every book on ventriloquism the library had. We took a family photo, and I insisted that the dummy be in it. When school started up again that fall, we had to do a school project and give a presentation. I was a very shy kid that largely lived in his mind and drawings. It took a long time for me to build confidence. But once in a while, a showman inside would spring out. This was my chance! I would bring in Charlie and we would make a show of it.

I remember getting in front of the class and cracking my best jokes. Despite my anxiety, my classmates were amused at the novelty. There were no belly laughs, but no complaints or weird faces either. When I finished the presentation I thought about the while experience. I did the ventriloquism thing. I studied, got the dummy and did a show. And now...and now... I came to a realization. I was done with it. Just like that. I wasn't sad about it, or disappointed. I just knew it was time to go back to the woods and light fires, catch newts, and build forts.

There are times when I reflect on life and think that I opportunities I should have seized. I should have taken my piano lessons more seriously. I wish I had focused more in learning to speak Spanish at an early age. But in the case of Charlie McCarthy, I am glad I let that one go.

Poem: Stoolpy

Sometimes the simplest forms humor can make you laugh through the most complex of situations..