Family matters

• Aaron Orzech, Grade 12
• Poetry
• 2004

Well Susan, she’s a management consultant now.
These days she works part time so she can spend more time with the shopping.
And David? Assistant manager at GreyCorp (they’re in investment)
They meet for a whitewineseafood lunch on the river every Wednesday.
Anna’s fifteen and blossoming
Goes to "Brady Bunch" marathons with her friends, and how they guffaw,
(Although inside is secret relief at each episode’s neatly folded resolution).
They all live in a fine apartment near the city.
Concrete slabs replaced white picket but it’s the same idea really.
Monday night: David plays golf, Anna has natural therapy.
And so on. Etc…

But come summertime, the heat rolls in and melts away
their precarious putty of routine
Dropping them into a giant, irritable family stew.
And they claw at each other, they claw and they spit
And it could almost be farcically funny if it weren’t so tragic.