For Ten Different Reasons

"Not something my parents would have done
for ten different reasons,"  he said.

Too messy, you could pick up all kinds of disease,

And so on, and so forth.

Chicks galore, in lime, blue, pink,
chirping under florescent light,
we'd buy them at Woolworths every Easter.

Being Jewish, not a taboo
for my parents, but for his - no way.
Later, our chicks shed their dyed feathers.

Released into the living room, they'd fly
round in gay abandon - one chick, Snowy,
ever perching on my brother's shoulder.

With sticky seeds, feathers, spilled water, things
could get messy.

We grew up wild and wooly, helping my
dad run his business out of the house, but
we were granted freedom,

like buying chicks at Woolworths.

As Frost said of his road,
"And that has made all the difference."