Katie Kemple
Big Man
The walk from the air-conditioned truck
to the mall turned him into a popsicle,
sweat dripping down his tanned forehead.
He had a big build in the arms and shoulders,
strong like bull, he’d told his daughters.
He didn’t move easy, but well enough
in his Gold’s Gym t-shirt with the sleeves
cut off, his ancient mesh shorts. He had
nearly made it to the door, its chill relief,
when a voice sizzled through the air.
A six-year-old girl exploded into him:
Mr. Kemple! Mr. Kemple! Mr. Kemple!
Hollering like he was a celebrity, not her
first-grade teacher. She hugged his bad leg,
wrapped around him like a Band-Aid.
And for a moment, he could acknowledge
it, the pent-up pain, the strain, how hard it
felt to move. Maybe the girl had no one
at home to hug. They both took a break
from being tough and melted there together.
The Wedding Album
We found our father’s first wife
in the closet upstairs, behind
the child size door my sister and I
cracked open, under the naked
pull-light in a maroon leather album.
That 1970s pigment gave a warm
glow to the photos. Dad in a dark
tux, white carnation in the lapel.
The lady next to him brunette
like mom but angular, wore
glasses. At six and four, we didn’t
understand. I took the album
to Mom fresh out of the shower,
penciling her face in. The sight
of it creased her eyes: “Pat!”
she hollered. Dad arrived, took it
back, ushered us to the table,
said: “You know how your kitten
died?” Hit by a car in front of our
house. He said his first wife died
in a similar accident. My sister
and I must have hugged him,
the memory of our cat stinging.
But I only remember tugging
my sister’s hand to play outside.
When night fell, Dad sat alone
by the hearth stoking the flames,
the wedding album man, a stranger.
He saw me there and looked away,
back to the blazing fire he created.
I didn’t know who I was anymore.
Katie Kemple’s poems are published in or forthcoming from Beloit Poetry Journal, Ploughshares, and The South Carolina Review. More of her work can be found at katiekemplepoetry.com. Big Man is her debut collection.
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