Golden Vanilla Brand Ice Cream And Etc. (Final Version) Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

starting with a fresh large sheet of vanilla paper
my sister and I would say since we couldn't pronounce manilla
and the cream of the paper somehow seemed the same as
the golden banilla (we couldn't say vanilla either) ice cream
from the Piggly Wiggly grocery our grandfather
scooped out for us late nights or of a Saturday with of course
Hershey's chocolate syrup in eye popping swirls....
well on the vanilla paper we seem to draw in red crayon and blue
with yellow for the sun the same house every time
with its kelly green
door
little steps, leading up to:
the same sun in the corner of the page
with its never varying beams.
but to us it is:
the playhouse of our dreams.
so it bears repeating. just like the ice cream.

mary angela douglas 6 january 2022; 29 january 2022; 24 march 2023