old cans of paint

on a shelf in the garage

the aqua of my room when i was in grade school
a neon green that painted a desk

a yellow that was used for the kitchen walls
i think when i was in the eighth grade

a brown used to paint a fort
from a summer long ago  

the bright orange used for yard chairs
i can remember painting those chairs

on a hot summer day with my stepdad 
he pointed out the different brushes to me

and told me how important it was to put on more than one coat
i tried hard not to get any paint on the old jeans i was wearing

but could not keep the drops off
my stepdad just smiled and said it was fine

everyone needs a pair of painting pants
that was why we picked out an old pair of jeans

when we get done here
we will go to the drugstore

you can get a couple comics
spider man and the hulk

and an ice cream cone
you really did a good job 

mom came to the back door
with two glasses of lemonade

lunch soon
come in and clean up

that must have been around 1971
the chairs were in the backyard

long after my stepfather left
one day our neighbor rented a bin

to throw out all the things he did not want to take
when he moved

just throw anything in you want
lots of room 

my mom pointed to the orange chairs
now broken and sun faded

throw those in the bin
no one has used them for years

that was the year before i went into the army
fall of 1983

now i pick up the can of orange paint
to take it to the recycling center

thinking of my stepdad for the first time in awhile 
noticing the old brush

laid across the rusty lid
orange faded to dull brown

as i brush away the cobwebs.