How Dreams Can End Up by Richard LeDue
for Dale Hawerchuk
The hockey players on cards
I used to collect
as a child
are starting to die,
but their momentary immortality is safe
inside plastic holders,
organized in a box
buried within my closet.
I've thought about selling my collection,
yet now I feel like a grave robber-
those tough men, graceful on skates
gave me hope when I didn't know
how to skate, or as I sat with a Sears catalogue,
calculating the cost of hockey equipment,
knowing our oil furnace almost empty,
so an open oven heated our kitchen,
dried my winter gloves,
wet from road hockey.
All of this proving how dreams can end
up in a box you kept too long
(if you're lucky),
while the bill collectors with their phone calls,
threatening eviction or
to take things away,
probably had a favourite team too.
The hockey players on cards
I used to collect
as a child
are starting to die,
but their momentary immortality is safe
inside plastic holders,
organized in a box
buried within my closet.
I've thought about selling my collection,
yet now I feel like a grave robber-
those tough men, graceful on skates
gave me hope when I didn't know
how to skate, or as I sat with a Sears catalogue,
calculating the cost of hockey equipment,
knowing our oil furnace almost empty,
so an open oven heated our kitchen,
dried my winter gloves,
wet from road hockey.
All of this proving how dreams can end
up in a box you kept too long
(if you're lucky),
while the bill collectors with their phone calls,
threatening eviction or
to take things away,
probably had a favourite team too.
Richard LeDue's Bio:
Richard LeDue (he/him) currently lives in Norway House, Manitoba. He is a Best of the Net nominee. His first chapbook was released in 2020, and a second chapbook in 2021. As well, his third chapbook, “The Kind of Noise Worth Writing Down,” was released in October 2021 from Kelsay Books. Find his newest release, “Dollar Store Blues and Other Cheap Words,” here.
Richard LeDue (he/him) currently lives in Norway House, Manitoba. He is a Best of the Net nominee. His first chapbook was released in 2020, and a second chapbook in 2021. As well, his third chapbook, “The Kind of Noise Worth Writing Down,” was released in October 2021 from Kelsay Books. Find his newest release, “Dollar Store Blues and Other Cheap Words,” here.
