rocket ships and dimestores

[revolutionR]

my grandfather carved wooden rocket ships
for me in the fifties, I try to discover memories
as a child, first one coming through the desert
on the way from Wisconsin moving to California
there was a lost little black dog, my Dad bought
me an Abba Zabba bar, I don't recall ever
being bought another Abba Zabba bar
something about the name of the bar,
like magic words, and the lost dog
Abba Zabba bars don't replace lost little black
dogs, why do I remember this rather then that

for some reason I think of Bukowski because
I lived on a hill in Redondo beach for a while
and I remember my mother taking me for walks
on the beach and down on the pier where she
bought me a bright orange candy peanut
and I don't ever recall being bought one of those
candy peanuts ever again, in any case Bukowski's last
reading was in Redondo beach

I did see Bukowski read one time, when I think about
his writing, it reminds me of childhood memories
I grew up near L.A. he grew up in L,A, but poetry
is timeless in a sense,memories are interchangeable
Bukowski's memories remind me of my memories
on a poetic level, only another poet would understand

I'm looking for the poetic element in the memories
that I seem to have, but why those memories
and not the others, so the ones that I do remember
have poetic potential, as I recall poetry always
seemed to come to me through childhood memories
in other words where I began writing poetry
it is as if I start at the beginning of my memory
so in a sense each poem is like seeing my life
pass before my eyes, even if I don't consciously
think of it that way each time I write a poem