From Poetic Asides:  “For today’s prompt, use the following five words in your poem: slash, button, mask, strap, and balloon. Use them in any order.”

i want to know why
and my mother tells me a story
i am too young to remember
but it’s been told so many times
i search for that part of my memory
locked away replaced
a back up file that’s corrupted.

it’s my fourth birthday party
there’s a clown
mask elaborate make-up button nose
balloons, so many balloons
he slash she may take flight
magnificent criss-cross strap
adorning the torso in flashing strobes
disorienting and hypnotic
really terrifying for a four year old
bozo asks for a volunteer
sarah goes up
is crowned with a hat made of balloons
sitting atop bozo’s bouncing knee
shrieking with giggles.

you,
she tells me,
have had enough of bozo
run up to bouncing sarah
grab her
rescue her from the evil clown.
yeah yeah, i’ve heard this story.

yes, you have heard the first part
but you wanted to know why i never asked.

after you yanked her from bozo
you pulled her into your arms
caressed her face
kissed her
your first kiss
on your fourth birthday.

i didn’t need to ask
honey
i was waiting for you to remember.