How I Knew Harold Poem

Mom's pregnant

1953

Around 1953 Mom tells the family she's pregnant. My brother bounces around the living
room with a pillow on his head wailing "it will change our whole lives!" This story
is recounted each year around my birthday.

Singing

1957

Around 1957 Dad and I sing My Darlin' Clementine every morning on the way to school.

Butcher Knife

1962

Around 1962 my brother feels like scaring the hell out of me and chases me around the
house with a butcher knife. I hide behind Dad's suits. It smells like Old Spice.

Grandma

1963

Around 1963 Grandma gives me ten bucks for learning the times tables.

Mom's Radiant

1964

Around 1964 Mom colors her hair–starts wearing eye shadow and mascara. She's
standing over a steaming sink in a pale green mohair singing "Edelweiss." She
looks absolutely radiant.

Woolworth's

1968

Around 1968 Patty Bryant and I run out on the check at Woolworth's.

Family Dinner

1969

Around 1969 I tell my parents over dinner that I'd live with a man before I'd marry him.
Dad says it's unnatural. I tell him to get his own dessert.

Sister's gay

1972

Around 1972 my sister tells me and my parents she's gay. Dad says it's unnatural and they
start arguing. I keep quiet. Mom goes into the kitchen to make sundaes.

Moving out

1978

Around 1978 I leave home to move in with Jack. Dad and I are standing in the driveway.
They don't want me to go. He's Jewish. Mom packs ham sandwiches and slips
me two twenties. I move back in three months.

Funeral Gig

1979

Around 1979 my friend Sandy plays taps at a funeral gig, so I go along. I walk up to the
casket in my boots and fur jacket. I'm checking out the deceased when a woman
grabs my elbow. She wants to know how I knew Harold.

New york

1981

Around 1981 we run into your old girlfriend on an elevator. She's wearing black leather
pants and a tank top. She asks how I like New York. We are all sweating bullets.
I want to say it sucks, but the doors open and she's gone. We miss our floor.