Memorio’s Day
My butler’s name was Robert
He came before me
and preferred to be called Robert
When I decided that I preferred to be called Robert
and not Bobby
the family disagreed
Rose and Papa Joe
had long ago decided
that the servants working in our home
were to be addressed by their first names
something that caused a bit of a scandal
in the neighborhood
but was accepted because
Papa Joe was not a man easily disagreed with
I disagreed with this decision
and felt that I, as a young boy
who was a part of the family Robert
was working for,
should have a choice
in what I was called
All they did,
was use the logic of the garden playhouse
and say
“He was first”
Robert became my butler when Joe Jr went to war
and was in no need of a butler
though his letters home
might indicate otherwise
Robert’s main duty was to dress me
He had not been used to dressing Joe Jr
for he was in his twenties
and had been dressing himself
since he was 6,
only needing help with ties and cuffs etc
I told Robert that his job required him
to dress me for the next day
while I slept
Robert objected
but my family disagreed
Robert argued that I would not be clean
and would need a bath before dressing
but I said Robert would bathe me in the evening
every evening
and if there were dirty parts in the morning
they could be taken care after I woke up
dressed
My family agreed
and Robert knew it was best not to disagree again
Robert would come to my room
an hour before my scheduled time to rise
and would undress me from my sleeping clothes
and dress me while I slept
It became my game to stop paying attention to calendars
or to the words people said to me about the next day’s events
I would wake up, yawn, stretch out my arms, open my little eyes
and look down at my clothes
If I was in school clothes, I knew I had school ahead
If it was church clothes, I knew church was ahead
If it was happy church clothes, I knew marriage was ahead
If it was sad church clothes, I knew a funeral was ahead
If it was semi-formal church clothes, I knew it was a holiday
One morning in late May
I woke up cranky, swatting at Robert
who was shining my cuff links
He looked so unhappy
“Robert”, I asked,” Is it a holiday?”
“Yes, Bobby”,
“Which one”, I asked
“It’s Memorial’s Day Bobby”
Robert had a habit of pluralizing almost everything
in a complicated and nonsensical manner
When we would be sitting around waiting for snacks
He would say, “The cakes are in the ovens boys”
and in our heads
we would imagine dozens of cakes
dozens of plates
and when only one would come out
one big enough for a wedding party
the four of us would be upset
at the lack of multiple everything
and eat our cake quietly
mourning the loss of the plural
At the time of this poem
the family doctors
had diagnosed me
with what they called
Sloppy Mouth Syndrome
and the problem with having Sloppy Mouth Syndrome
is that often parts of words
come out sloppy
and some come out just right
so I often made sense but not a lot of sense
It was said that I could also have had
Sloppy Ear Syndrome
in that I could only hear parts of words correctly
but the blood tests were inconclusive
When Robert told me it was Memorial’s Day
I either misspoke or misheard it Memorio’s Day
and asked, “Who is Memorio?”
Robert, always a fan of mythology proceeded to tell me
that Memorio was the God of Happy Memories
and in the end of May, on a Monday
we celebrate his legacy
All bad memories, he explained
were to be not cast aside but to be remembered
as happy moments
not sad ones
I was grumpy when I woke
but happy to hear of this wonderful holiday
The family was preparing a picnic outside
and as Robert was cleaning my dirty parts,
I came up with a song
and sang it
as I was being cleaned
Robert said I should perform it
for the family
and I agreed
There were a lot of friends and family
sitting in white chair on the lawn
A lot of the men were in uniform
I thought they must be remembering today
how wonderful it was to be in battles
fighting hand to hand to the death
flying planes into black clouds
and all the women were in blue and red
and they must have been remembering today
how wonderful it was to be alone and worried
I asked Papa Joe if I could sing a song
to help celebrate Memorio’s Day
“Ok Bobby”, he said
but it’s pronounced Memorial Day
This is the song I sang
It’s time to forget all your troubles,
all those troubles are smiling now
It’s Memorio’s Day!
Nothing to be sad about
not about what you were sad about
It’s Memorio’s Day
If they died, if they were sad
all those things never happened, today
you don’t have time to wait because
it’s Memorio’s Day
Nothing bad has ever happened!
not today!
because It’s Memorio’s Day!’
Forget all your troubles!
Forget all your troubles
It’s Memorio’s Day
Robert resigned
in a letter
and left it on my bed
which had been left unmade
before I performed
He was not there
for anyone to question his decision,
to disagree
My new butler’s name was Eric
I didn’t require him to dress me
or bathe me
though after a few weeks of seeing me dress myself
my family disagreed
I asked if I could change my name to Eric
and have Eric be called Bobby
I was hoping to confuse everyone
and end up having them say
Let’s call you Robert
but they did not take to it
and Bobby I remained
