Memos bookcover

 

MEMO TO THE FORMER CHILD PRODIGY

by the age of nine     you knew everything     tra-la
had met two Presidents     tra-la     could explain pi

memorize Shakespeare soliloquies
or checkmate anyone blind-folded     child's play

violin     oboe     harpsichord     duplicate bridge
so what     then     was left to do

cut corners     fit in     marry someone
polish silver     slap your children     or go back

back to one     tra-la     then two and so forth 

‘til you learn to love all that blooms in the spring



(MEMOS, Susan Terris, Omnidawn Publishing, 2015)

Thanks to the Denver Quarterly where this poem first appeared.
Also thanks to Best American Poetry 2016 in which this was featured.