in red on a piece of green construction paper
Dear Santa,
I have been a good little clockwork boy this year,
please bring me a pot of metal polish
and a child’s ratchet set and nuts and bolts and screws
and rivets in a variety of shapes and sizes,
a chamois cloth and a pair of suspenders for my teddy bear,
new eyes that see by heat, some tissue cultures
and a new feeding tube.
Now just another one of those rusted memories
from my childhood. Did my parents read the letter
and smile at each other?
Or were all those spare parts really manufactured by
a merry little band
of mechatronic polar elves.
Dear Santa,
I have been a good little clockwork boy this year,
please bring me a pot of metal polish
and a child’s ratchet set and nuts and bolts and screws
and rivets in a variety of shapes and sizes,
a chamois cloth and a pair of suspenders for my teddy bear,
new eyes that see by heat, some tissue cultures
and a new feeding tube.
Now just another one of those rusted memories
from my childhood. Did my parents read the letter
and smile at each other?
Or were all those spare parts really manufactured by
a merry little band
of mechatronic polar elves.
(originally appeared on Scars Publications website; will appear in cc&d magazine in December 2012)
