Skate

I am nine
Wearing cotton
Socks over wool socks
To skate on the newly waxed
Wood floors of our dining room
Along with my sisters on an
Oaken tongue-in-groove
Wooden floor my old
Grandpa worked on
To help my father
A job of endless
Sawing and of
Sanding the
Edges for
A tight
Fit.
We sibs
Wash the
Dishes clothes
Windows bathroom
Dust clean sweep and
Hang up and take down
Then fold clothes plus
Whatever else needs
Doing as our chores
For which we get
An allowance
So we may
Learn the
Value of
Penny
Treats and
Movie money
All the while we
Listen to our mother
Play records classical
To broadway musicals
We memorize the lines
To Candide by Lenny
Bernstein or most
Any Rogers Hart
Hammerstein
Show so that
We still even
Now know
Lyrics to
Tunes
We can’t
Ever forget
In this best of
All possible worlds
To put the gloss
In Pangloss in
Any tongue
N’ groove
Dining
Room.