Tuesday, September 28, 2010

David Trinidad: 9773 Comanche Ave.

Having grown up in '50s/'60's cookie-cutter suburbia, this is one I can relate to... maybe you, too.

9773 Comanche Ave.
by David Trinidad

In color photographs, my childhood house looks
fresh as an uncut sheet cake—
pale yellow buttercream, ribbons of white trim

squeezed from the grooved tip of a pastry tube.
Whose dream was this confection?
This suburb of identical, pillow-mint homes?

The sky, too, is pastel. Children roller skate
down the new sidewalk. Fathers stake young trees.
Mothers plan baby showers and Tupperware parties.
The Avon Lady treks door to door.

Six or seven years old, I stand on the front porch,
hand on the decorative cast-iron trellis that frames it,
squinting in California sunlight,
striped short-sleeved shirt buttoned at the neck.

I sit in the backyard (this picture's black-and-white),
my Flintstones playset spread out on the grass.
I arrange each plastic character, each dinosaur,
each palm tree and round "granite" house.

Half a century later, I barely recognize it
when I search the address on Google Maps
and, via "Street view," find myself face to face—

foliage overgrown, facade remodeled and painted
a drab brown. I click to zoom: light hits
one of the windows. I can almost see what's inside.

5 comments:

The Aiken ite said...

#1 I love that someone used "google maps" in a poem

#2 I was just reading A Wrinkle in Time to my children this morning. Did you read that as a child? Serendipitous.

irishpoetry said...

A really powerful thought-provoking poem. We need a lot more like this on the net. Thanks for sharing.

Rose L said...

I have just discovered you! Glad I did! I have written poems of reminiscence like this one. I am not as notable as you, probably never will be, but the joy of writing poetry is wonderful. I share at open mikes and get great responses. Feels good.
I shall follow you and keep reading your blog!

Brian Campbell said...

Well, I'm happy you stumbled across this blog. More joy to you, or as one poet/editor I know puts it, "Best wishes for the best of words."

Brian Campbell said...

Just saw your comments, irish and aikenite...

Never read A Wrinkle in Time. Was just reading about it... I love stories where an author gets rejected 26 times, then meets a publisher by serendipity who takes it on, and it becomes a classic. (Rather like James Joyce's "Dubliners")