David Alpaugh

David Alpaugh

What My Father Loved About Melmac

That you could drop it on the floor.
That you could hit it with a sledgehammer.
That you could back over it with a Mack truck.

That in this Henry-J world where we rattled along
crying for a Tucker - here at last was the real thing.
That it came in a variety of colors including maroon.

That you could get it with S&H green stamps.
That once all 32 pieces were stacked up on your pantry shelf
you'd never have to buy dinnerware again.

That at last he could enjoy his Kix or Shredded Wheat
in peace - knowing every bowl on the kitchen table
was childproof.

That never again would Mom shout, "Butterfingers!"
nor grieve over china lying in ruins, at our feet,
nor swear as she cut her toe on an unswept shard.

Pharaoh of our New Jersey duplex, Dad dreamed of
burial, near the Nile, with his favorite cup & saucer.
Melmac, he said, would last ten thousand years.

David Alpaugh's first collection, COUNTERPOINT, was published by Story Line Press and Pudding House Publications has just published a selection of his poems in its Greatest Hits series. He makes his mortgage payments by running SMALL POETRY PRESS, a chapbook design and printing service for self-publishing poets and by teaching Poetry Writing and Appreciation at the University of California, Berkeley Extension. You can contact him atDavAlpaugh@aol.com