KC Bosch’s most recent poem to appear here was In my head, published as part of Contributor Series 9: If Men Had Ears in July 2011. KC writes in a direct style, but his humor is dry and slyly placed, and his poems seem to call out for a second and third read.
Fourth Birthday
By KC Bosch
By KC Bosch
Not one for shrinks,
I wonder what we would find.
Me, an older brother at fifteen
months, and one of the big kids by three.
Trip to see a Disney feature, siblings
dropped to fend as a group.
Scared by the donkeys,
I walked out to
Hansel and Gretel my way home.
Matches and cigarettes as toys,
roaming as far as my friends would travel.
Rules being taught and broken
by sisters and brothers,
Dad at work, mom at art class or the club.
Turning four I got the cake
I wanted, a homemade pink elephant
as seen in a magazine.
Still learning how to make this day mine,
smiling for the photo, thinking of the sweets.
Years later in that rare photo from
those unwatched days, me and the elephant,
I notice my name spelled wrong.
Who baked that cake?
I can associate with this. Heartfelt.
I remember that photo. Great poem, KC. Evocative and subtle at the same time.