The Monolithic Airplanes So Far Above My Head Poem by Robert Rorabeck

Forget the yellow light:
Forget butterflies and the Mexican slang for
Rainbows:
Forget the nursery and the tourists who come
In wanting to know the meaningless names
For the horticulture of their
Inevitably boring landscaping:
Forget even stewardesses and their milky eyed
Lawyers far above the
Mandibles of ants or the jaws of alligators,
Forget even how you took off on the swings with me;
And how before that I had run away to Michigan
To jerk off in a fabulous cemetery
And kiss my aunt:
Forget my affluently dirty trick of an uncle water skiing
Or playing water polo:
Just remember that today is your birthday;
And you have spent all day with your daughter, or kissing
Your boyfriend and eating flan and making wishes:
Just forget all of those wishes except for the small kindle
Of the one in which I was your man:
And remember, dear, today is your birthday; but any day
And any time of the day is special, really,
As long as there are blue birds and allegory;
And you are sunbathing in the little yard with your
Mother and daughter,
And I am just a good man
Hoping that you didn’t
Forget to wish
And watching you through the blinds instead of the monolithic
Airplanes going by so far above my head.