Chuckling Bubbles in 1952

humans organize the bland
into extremities
to make sense
or maybe
we are so small
that we can see
the most minute
details
in order
to evolve
to keep going
to keep rambling
Knowledge bubbles
from a straw in a child's mouth
antsy at the restaurant placemat
"Why does it always take so long?"
"Mind your manners, you're embarrassing your mother & I"
sharp smack of father's lips
the bubbles pitter out
the straw tips off the glass's edge
droplets wet the placemat
the father's cock-eyed glare
in view warped through circular glass face.
But the bubbles
now just wet droplets on a placemat
turn into tears
when the child turned toward
father's face
as an adult saying
it just seemed like a moment
ago
when I was sitting with you and mom
playing with straws.
It all happens so fast.
Father rolls palms to the eye sockets
and raises his chin
to the clock.
"I've gone blind, my boy,
could you tell your dear ol' dad
what time it is?"
Someday there's going to be a cure for blindness,
I'll find it for you Daddy. And by the way,
this is your daughter,
I think you've gone insane too
Can't you recognize my voice anymore?
"Time can do these things to your mind," said the Father.
"It's 10 o'clock Dad, I think I should take you home now."
"What's a man to do without
his head & his eyes
Is there no humanity left?
Am I just to continue living
like some goddamn animal?"
The children dance in puddles
while their father paces furious circles
in the rain
muttering some such nonsense.
His daughter stops and smiles at her father.
"Daddy, you used to be such a smart man,
I quite like you better this way"
The father chuckles then starts
to talk about a girl he met in 1952.
"This girl, she reminds me of you,
and strangely enough, it wasn't your mother."
"Daddy," she says, "it is 1952."
and he chuckles again and says,
"Oh yes! The time. Thanks for reminding me."
The father takes the little girl's hand
realizing he is his father
this daughter is his wife
his son is himself
as a boy
& finally
he realizes
his life is a joke.
His wife is a little girl
& he is an old man
who has married his own daughter
in the future.
Their son has birth defects
he's blind and crazy
and he's surfing through timeliines
like a laserdisk player
and in this realization
he chuckles again
wondering if all the people in his life
are just extensions of himself
and he exclaims,
"I don't care! As long as they get the joke and can laugh
with me! hahahahha!"
and his wife says,
"You're a crazy fool and I love you."
and his daughter says,
"Dad, it's time for bed"
and his son stumbles into his arms and gives him a big hug
and everyone smiles
and laughs
and goes to sleep.

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