For Hans

http://goscandinavia.about.com/b/2008/06/11/photo-of-the-week-the-little-mermaid.htm

In honor of Hans' birthday, I am going to do something I rarely do. I am going to post a poem as a humble offering to a great man. So here goes, and here's to you ol' fella:

Moi, My Great Aunt

There were lots of naked pictures

in the travel books from Rome and

Greece. And out of the box of red, green,

and blue plastic beads, there was one tiny

naked woman. She looked bronze, and she

was sitting on her rock. Her feet were funny,

but I thought she was beautiful. I chose her.

Years later I saw pictures from Copenhagen.

Square little houses in primary colors.

On the shore a statue of the Little Mermaid.

I recognized my pendant.

It made sense. Hans’ Mermaid

before she walked on swords

for a man. Before she threw the

knife that could have saved her,

into the sea. A sad Mermaid,

soulless, tearless, and princeless.

It made sense that my Aunt had that

pendant.

My Aunt chainsmoked, even after she

was hooked up to an oxygen tank. My Aunt

played solitaire every day and every night, on

a brown card table. I heard she had

an interesting and full love life when she was

young. I heard she traveled, though I didn’t know

where. I like to think I’m like her, in the good

ways.