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Contributor Series 11: On Birthdays, High School Reunion


06.25.12 Posted in words to linger on by

Contributor Series 11: On Birthdays
High School Reunion
By Dean Olson

Graduates gather in summer heat 

to share stories, look each other over, 
gauge tread left, weigh wear and tear

You mean to say…
Have you seen…  Didn’t you hear…
Do you remember…

we carry with us images from the mirror 
smile all-the-while thinking

My God, do I look like that?!

potluck tables flow from hot dogs, chicken and corn 
to macaroni and bean salads 
to cookies and pie. The line is slow
less from length than age and confusion

What about my cholesterol…  Was 
that cooked in butter…   Who made this…
Where is the mustard…

photos catch my brother’s ear hanging out
me as I clear seeds from a bridge
others slap yellow-jackets 
or look in blank wonder at how the breeze 
sifts light through maple’s riddle

the crowd thins as medics 
treat an over-heated graduate, 
as it thins each year 
reminding us why we must
always come.

Dean Olson’s most recent poem to appear here was Window Shopping, published as part of Contributor Series 10: Silken Rags, in December 2011.


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