poem

 The Back Story

There’s a new back story

Check it out!

The winter snow now

Comes from the moon

Shedding slivers of itself

Cold enough to last 

The long fluttery trip down.

Rain is more or less a function of the sun

It just means something is melting 

Way up there.

This is the new back story

The back story is nostalgia for loneliness 

And heartache and a pot of chicken

Noodle soup simmering on the back stove. 

The back story is always whispering 

In your ear just loud enough for no one

Else to hear. 

It’s full of confusing anecdotes

And false memories your father 

Is now convinced actually happened. 

The new back story isn’t written

Down or play acted or ad libbed

You just say your lines

And get off the stage as fast as you can.

The new back story is a scare 

Story we tell the little kids 

Anytime they get out of line.

It’s rich in detail but devoid

Of any context. Someday this 

Poem will be part of it  

Too. 

The new back story eats lima beans

For supper and then spits them out

Unchewed into a napkin

So mom will think he cleaned his plate.

This is the new back story

The back story is the subject

Of an 8th grader’s science experiment

The null hypothesis denies

Any responsibility for the way

We are now. The alternative 

Hypothesis asserts that we 

Have always been nothing

But back story

10/19/25