Michael Amram
THE COUNTER
glistening to its silver
it hanged a
fob intertwining his thumb
with suns of noonish heights
that coached me from
6 years young ,
I was daunted by hosts of
ambulation,
and the counter he palmed
had tumblers that made
numbers zero—4 in a row,
My dad tallied steps I took
and counted
legs that moved until I fell
and then I'd begin again—
like how children learn to spell,
Clicks stalked me and air echoed
eventually
the sound of angered teeth that
gnashed with a cumulative
feel of vagrancy,
400 steps to earn
a reward
was my carrot and I sweat
on a sun-baked road learning
to contemplate asphalt,
what enabled me never read
9-9-9-9,
my canes fell away long before
tumblers turned those numbers in
our manual pedometer.
Michael P. Amram acquired a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota - Duluth
in 1989. Since graduating he has been writing fiction, poetry and non-fiction. He has self-published three
collections of poetry and two novels of historically-based fiction. In 2015 he was among the poets who read at
the Loft's dedication as an International Peace site. In 2016 he collaborated with artist Sandra Brick in her
exhibit "Haiku Two Ways." See his work at www.michaelpaulamram.weebly.com.
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