Canadian Tire

The Canadian Tire store, in Waterloo, now stands where the century old farmhouse, I lived in as a child, once stood.





I Lived in Aisle 6”



Aisle 6

paint and supplies

as near as I can figure

there stood my bedroom window.

Hardware

or

was it in automotive parts?

just where the kitchen starts.


RIP

A patriot’s demise

a retro crypt

Canadian Tire now stands

Over my

childhood

home.

Three horses-

a Bay, a Palomino

and a Grey

With a small herd of Holsteins,

including my pet heifer

(Hugh Hefner)

grazed where the parking lot now

sprawls.

I park my deep purple Subaru

my middle-aged legs walk the

distance over dark asphalt memories.

Outback

behind the giant box store

about 40 years into my past

where stands an:

an apple orchard,

a barn and a

pond.

Rowing gently,

lazily

one very hot July

across the silent stagnant green water

my dog, Shadow, sees a frog

and like some demented canine

superhero leaps from the creaky

old boat.

We soon discover, to my shame,

he cannot swim or even

float.

his stroke too vertical,

too frantic.

He begins to sink.

I yank his collar and pull him in.


We hunted ground hogs through farmers’ fields.

Shot squirrels

armed with a crossbow made from sturdy car springs

and a bolt action 22.

Our juvenile arsenal was really swell

but not exactly from Matel.

We shot a barn cat once!

Spectacular…

In mid-air, as it leapt across the bailing pit.

Some silo pigeons too I think

Likely, they were cooing too loud.

We were kids.

There was

no season

rhyme or

reason.


I got a pellet

Between my eyes

And wonder still how I survived it all.


I see now that

The barn is gone.

The pond is dry and the

Orchards have been cleared.

All a residential pit with names like

Lakeshore

And

Forest Lawn

Even though there is no lake

And the forests are all gone.


“If only dogs could swim and

I was young again in aisle 6.”