from “The Complete History of the Boy”
The boy was mad at his mother who didn’t hang up
the phone right away when he fell and hurt his head.
He was indignant. “Hurts are more important than inventions.”
He dreamed his father died. “Mama told me in the car.”
When he woke up he climbed into bed with his father, happy.
He wanted to discuss the floor plan of the house:
“Is my room over the dining room?”
He wanted to know which was more important,
the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building.
The former is a symbol of liberty, the latter a symbol
of industry, his mother explained. That clinched things
for the boy. He unhesitatingly chose liberty.
“Which is more important, religion or God?”
He was still five years old.
They found a special school for him.
He took classes in Magical Thinking and excelled
in the making of weird predictions and dire threats
that scared you even though you knew
they wouldn’t come true.
He also learned how to walk and talk in his sleep.
Two years later he saw Hans Hofmann’s “Mirage”
only this time on the cover of a book
with his father’s name on it.
“Awesome,” the boy said.
The world was still a dance not a duel, with invisible swords.
And at the museum the Hofmann hadn’t changed a bit.
Joy in the house, laughter in the halls, the boy in pajamas:
There were still a few good boyhood years left.
— David Lehman
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Author: The Best American Poetry
