POEM - The Train Cake of 1974

I know

If I try to think rationally

That she had little choice

Didn’t pick the design

Or request the theme

But I was already on edge

Feeling a little unstable

When the party came up

I really wasn’t in the best frame of mind

It had been a rough year

What with the downsizing

Of my personal space

     My parental attention

            My toy storage

I was frazzled

I’d been invited

      As an after thought

A plus two really

But I thought everyone was cool

So it was a little awkward

When the cake came out

I tried to play it smooth

      But the tension was palpable

Why would she get a train cake?

She doesn’t even like trains

         I was the one that liked trains

I was the one

       Who asked for the conductor overalls

                And the engineer cap

I was the one who made “Choo-choo” sounds

Whenever I took a stroll around the house

               Me!

                           Not her . . . 

So it ended

In the cliché way

Me sulking in the corner

A hint of blue around the lips

Depressed by how good the cake was

Powerless to stop

The perpetual locomotive

              Of birthday fun