artwork: ralph murre
THE EARLIEST MEMORY
by Ava Collopy
Sitting by
the creek splashing water
Playing with a litter of black silky puppies
How many I
can’t remember
As they grew I was
Not much
bigger than them at two
They were an incarnation of joy
We were too
poor to keep them
My dad gated
in the driveway
With a makeshift fence
Our mother
directed the happenings
As they and my sister, brother, and I
Handed our
babies to strangers
Hoped for the best
And never
knew
~ first published in The Sandy Review
