In the summer of ’80,
we were adding a garage
to the side of our house.
It was a wide, two-car deal
with a fancy door
and a stairway leading
down to our basement.
A few years later,
I built a platform in the rafters,
carpeted it with samples
from a yard sale,
created a ladder up the studs
on the wailing western wall;
it was our sanctuary.
The early excavation
made mounds of dirt
which were perfect for
Star Wars toys.
We played in those piles
and Luke was once again
back on Dagobah.
He turned summersaults
and balanced the rocks,
crumbles of dirt really,
as we lost hours upon hours.
Luke carried Yoda
on his shoulders
as we carried our hopes
for the future in our hearts,
but Dagobah Luke was left out there
and is, presumably still, buried
in that foundation,
buried with those days.
Luke went the way of those hours,
he went the way of those hopes.
Later, on our raftered platform,
when we thought of
that back-yard Dagobah,
we thought of those innocent years
resisting the dark forces
of the galaxy.
BIOGRAPHY:
Andre F. Peltier (he/him) is a Lecturer III at Eastern Michigan University where he teaches literature and writing. He lives in Ypsilanti, MI, with his wife and children. His poetry has recently appeared in various publications. In his free time, he obsesses over soccer and comic books.
@aandrefpeltier
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