Memories of Ben

[Indie]

2nd Edit, Billy Todd

He’s ten years old
Pokemon hyper-focused
Quoting statistics I can’t comprehend
All I can remember is Pikachu
While he’s all over it
Glued to the television set
Eyes alight with childlike joy
Consumed by an obsession
I just nod and agree with
Lost somewhere in the upgrades

And it’s all about red cars
Specifically convertibles
Counting every one we pass
His hands pressed against
The car window in delight
Which is better than the constant
“Are we there yet?”
When he’s bored and un-stimulated
We can’t forget it’s all about Ben

And I’ve never seen someone devour
The matrix of a puzzle with such mastery
500 pieces in under an hour
Laid out in perfection
On the living room floor
And I’m in awe
While he’s chattering away
In the never ending stream of ideas
That burst forth from his consciousness

Tears and screams of frustration
They’ve interrupted his flow
And he can’t understand why
Someone needs to be watching
Anything that isn’t Dragon Ball Z
In his time slot, his routine
The very flow he gets mad at
When the programs don’t match the TV guide
That he pours over like it’s his religion

And it saddens me that no one has the time
Or the energy to sit and listen to the talk
About anime and Angelina Jolie movies
When he never slows down to take a breath
Echo’s of, “Shut up Ben…” reverberating
When he just wants to share his fascinations
And have someone be as excited as he is

So I often sit with him, drained
Being pretentious about Pokemon
At times wondering how I have the patience
When his blood just drop him off
In front of the television screen
Like it will solve the issue of Ben and his autism

Disgusted I watch, avoidable fights
And when the calm's rolled over the house
I take a tired breath and get him talking Yu-Gi-Oh
Getting the cards out, I’m oh’ing and ah’ing
Admiring the artwork, which I have to admit
Is pretty damn cool
It’s easy to be interested when,
It’s something we have in common
Though he likes it for the game, and I like it for the magic
If I could’ve kept up with his thought process
I might have learnt something useful

Nine years later and I can still picture his face
Remember the chatter and the holes in the walls
The wonderful way he’d get so excited
By the simplicity of life
That I couldn’t help but smile
At the dead bugs in a jar he kept as pets
Talking to them with so much love in his eyes
And I’ll never forget the time I managed to stump
His wonderful puzzle know-how
When I bought him a holographic 3D puzzle
For his eleventh birthday

Time changes everything though I have to laugh
That some things never change.
He’s all grown up now
Over 6ft tall and slightly terrifying
His mind still chasing after red convertibles
And drooling over Angelina Jolie
With a wicked memory for stats
That I wouldn’t want to contend with
Now he’s completing 1000 piece puzzles
In under an hour

© Indie Adams 2012

Billy - I agonised over the usage of "which" for quite a while, before just leaving it in the second stanza. Rogue ? amended and they're fixed to they've.

Todd - I can see what you mean about Pikachu, though I'm currently at a loss at how to reshape the verse in order to give it more emphasis.

Thanks, both of you.