Gold Stars

It was forbidden to touch

the Hummels in my aunt’s pretty house,

arranged just so and shut

in the glass cabinet, pigeon-toed,

rosy-faced, holding kittens or balloons,

their porcelain bellies bulging

under pinafores and overalls”¦

and it was wrong to kiss

the high-school janitor after track practice

against the concrete wall

in the band room vestibule

where a fake velvet blanket draped

the old upright piano,

and a long row of trombones tilted

in their shiny black cases”¦

but these

were the gold stars I gave myself

when I thought no one was watching

and nothing would get broken,

and I was brilliant: easing

the little brass latches

and reaching in.

— By Rachel Flynn of Gorham

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Take Heart: A Conversation in Poetry is produced in collaboration with the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. Questions about submissions may be directed to David Turner, special assistant to the Maine Poet Laureate, at 228-8263 or poetlaureate@mainewriters.org.