grapes in your uncle's suitcase 

a baseball thrown at the moon
so many times that it sticks & becomes
a very small planet
the tree picking up the recyclables
from the grass & tisk tisk tisking
about the family who didn't
have time to put them away.
it's going to snow tomorrow
at least that's what they're saying
unless it comes down as parmesan cheese
again & we'll all walk out 
& hold up our bowls of spaghetti 
above our heads.
one boy cupping his hands
ate just the cheese
salty on his fingers.
people have started sweating neon
& glowing all through the night.
no one can sleep. 
all the neighborhood children
are making up new rules for soccer 
this time you have to 
dislodge a real planet if you 
want to call it a goal. 
the tired kid always plays goalie 
& climbs up on a roof
trying to protect the night sky.
this town is vanilla bean flavor.
there is an invasive species 
of loud pink flower popping up 
across all the lawns but we all
really love the color. 
we put the flowers behind
our ears & kiss each other goodbye 
even when we're not going anywhere.
all the uncles took
a plane to a uncle convention
on another continent
& we forgot we had uncles.
we got along fine but began 
to feel a tinge of sorrow.
we filled the twinge 
by baking boxed brownies & only
eating the corner pieces
throwing the rest to great big black birds
who arrived only on sunday nights in the town. 
the uncles came back bearing fruit
from another planet. 
wonderful sweet grapes as hard
as cough drops. all the children
wanted to trade their dad 
for these new uncles so many of them did
& ate grapes all night.
they cut out little people shapes
from blue construction paper 
making little version of their families
to hang in the windows but the paper humans
got loose & frolicked in the grass
picking great pink flowers.
the dads were lonely & resorted to 
eating black birds
knocking them out of the sky with 
with their children's old baseballs
& roasting them quietly 
behind their garages where
no one would see them.