Graduation Party
At three o’clock,
I stood behind one of the twins’ chairs,
resting my hands on either side
of the weathered metal
listening to the conversation
she was having with her manager
from work.
I wanted to look busy
for the short two hours
I was standing in their backyard
with people I didn’t want to see,
among mismatched fold-out tables and chairs
where strangers clung to familiar faces
in exclusive cliques they wouldn’t form otherwise.
Who wouldn’t?
A little wooden birdhouse
hung low from a branch of the lone tree
blowing around in the wind,
taunting me—
persisting against the occasional harsh gust
that sent plastic tablecloths
flittering noisily about.
A game of corn hole,
once the most popular distractor,
now lay a bygone relic in the backdrop.
I only said goodbye
to one twin
before I slipped away.
At five o’clock,
I gave my last stop
a halfhearted side hug.
He was more interested
in his male counterparts
that had shown up,
so I befriended his darling cousin
from Tennessee,
who watched me struggle to the ground
on a bad leg
to stick my feet in the pool.
A little boy I’d never met
emerged from the rippling waves
to fling water into my lap.
We walked back down the hill
to sit in a circle
and play a game of cards
I’d never heard of
while they talked about
their future endeavors.
And I’d decided
I’d had my fill
of celebrations
for the day.
3 thoughts on "Graduation Party"
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Nice one, Leah. You do a great job of showing us someone separate from yet part of a celebration. Wonderful details.
Really strong details! You build the narrative of the poem and use time and space so effectively!
There is so much in this poem. Especially the second stanza. The mismatched chairs, the mismatched folks – where strangers clung to familiar faces
Love.