Kim Addonizio: A childhood

Our drinks came with paper umbrellas.
My mother put on tennis whites.
My father went to the bar
the way he always did.

My mother put on tennis whites.
My brother threw me against a wall
the way he always did.
I believed in my guardian angel.

My brother threw my mother against a wall.
I walked in my sleep.
I believed in my guardian angel.
I woke up far from the house.

I walked in my sleep.
My mother read fairy tales and sang to me.
I woke up far from the house.
My mother was old, my father dead.

My mother read fairy tales and sang to me.
My father and brother crashed through the door.
My mother was old, my father dead
along with my guardian angel.

My father and brother crashed through the door.
I went to the bar
along with my guardian angel
and our drinks came with paper umbrellas.