My folks were young,
they were kids with a kid,
they needed a break sometimes and they'd say
tonight you're staying with Ollie, okay?
and we'd get in the car and drive way far away
not exactly like taking the dog for a ride in the country
and leaving it there and driving away—
pretty sure you can’t do that with children—
or more people would
but anyway—
whenever my folks wanted time to themselves
they'd take me to Ollie's,
we’d drive and we'd drive
and the houses would get bigger and the yards would get wider
and farther apart and farther away—
gettin' close, gettin' close, my folks would say
and we'd drive by cows and silos and barns
'til we got to the place where Ollie was standing
and my dad would say, big fella ain't he,
like no one had ever said it before
and my mom would say, now you be good,
we'll be back in the morning,
my dad would throw me his jacket and say,
here, take this, in case it gets cold—
sometimes it did and I put on the jacket,
or sometimes I rolled it up for a pillow
and Ollie was tall
Jolly Ollie they called him
he was tall as the sky
I slept curled up between his black boots
it was sort of like a ride in the country I guess
but some things are okay long as nobody knows
he had two sacks of groceries
one in each arm
and I used to envy the bread that he carried
he was all that was left when the Food Giant closed.