• My Bench
    Have I ever told you about my bench?

    When I was four years old a big moving truck came, it was June,

    It had blue all over the back of the cab with white letters,

    Two men dropped off the black, cast iron, with very nice ornate handles.

    As the men sat it down on our front porch I went up to it and ran my hand along the curls,

    I sat on it and rocked back and forth slowly, feeling as though the world slowed down,

    Through the months I watched as my bench became a place for Happiness & Sorrow,

    I watched as my older sister would sit outside, talking to her boyfriend,

    I saw how every night it seemed that my parents grew closer/stronger to each other,

    They talked about what they wanted to gain in this life, while drinking a margarita and a beer,

    I watched how my older brother would sit on the bench and read till mother told him to go bed or the bugs would annoy him.

    For me, it was just sneaking outside in the middle of the night, and just feeling the cold night air wake me up and the stars would be at their brightest then

    Then as the days ticked by I watched as my sister was out on the bench with her boyfriend, yelling at each other and breaking up.

    I saw my parents get more distant, they would sit out there and yell about how their jobs were stressing them out, how they wish to come home and just relax, not work more.

    I saw how my older brother was acting differently, instead of a book, he would have a knife, it would slide across his skin, I never said anything, but I feel as though I should have, because he was gone from the world in the month of May.

    I’d still go out to the bench and sit in the exact place my brother died, I’d cuddle under the blanket I took with me and cry, my father had left, my mother would drink, my sister rarely came home, and so it was just me.

    The world would slow down, my breathing soft, I’d close my eyes and wonder why this bench? Why this bench brought happiness and sorrow; why it took my brother away from me and caused my parents to split. My sister to never be around anymore

    Have I ever told you about my bench?