The End of Childhood by Gerry LaFemina

When the Cavern closed, that basement pet shop where I spent
after school afternoons
feeding the fresh waters & salt waters, & 

told in hushed tones my small desires to the eclectus parrot
who knew my name—
when the Cavern closed for good years after

we’d left that neighborhood of wire trash cans & PTA mothers
in line at the deli
waiting for brown bag lunch specials on white

to be served with a baggie full of cookies, a can of Coke—
when the Cavern closed,
what did they do with the fish, two rooms

wall to wall of aquariums, each lit from above so the water
glowed fluorescent,
tank after tank of tetras, guppies, swordtails

or else the colorful & exotic Fancy Wrasses & Clown Triggers
some almost wicked
from within, as if gifted with a spark of creation

as if the Talmudic teachers were right, & purple blackcap basslets
(nothing like them
swam off Midland Beach: just jellyfish & whatever

lafayettes the old-timers caught, or else the crabs hauled
in homemade traps).
Imagine trucks taking what couldn’t be sold

when the Cavern closed to some other pet store, the fish
in giant plastic bags,
gills pulsing red & terrible as men in coveralls

carried each bag carefully because it was full of living creatures, &, too,
because they were paid
for their caution, had a reputation for it.

What of that bird in his coat of feathers suitable for Joseph,
squawking sometimes, still
calling my name—it was a word he knew after all—

squabbling as the men left & returned empty handed, its head cocked
saying Hullo!  Hullo!

Gerry LaFemina’s poetry collections include The Story of Ash and Little Heretic. His essays on prosody, Palpable Magic, came out in 2015 and Kendall Hunt released his textbook, Composing Poetry: A Guide to Writing Poems and Thinking Lyrically. He teaches at Frostburg State University and in the Carlow University MFA Program.