Morgan
The big stuffed gorilla
cost $17.00 which,
for a teenager in 1970,
seemed like a fortune.
Cheeky as you were,
you asked your friends
to donate a dollar each
toward his purchase,
and soon he was yours
and you named him Morgan.
You also talked our grandfather
out of his old bowler hat,
which you then placed
atop Morgan's head
and he sat in your room
with a mixed air
of sophistication
and whimsy.
He was with you
from age 17
to the week before
you would have turned 44.
I know it was only
my projection,
but it seemed that
his eyes and mouth
took on a mournful aspect.
He was the only thing
of yours that I kept,
for I took comfort
even in the illusion
of shared grief. - Jeff Barnes
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