Receiving a Celebratory Cereal Coupon

On my tenth birthday
I wrote a letter to Kellogg’s
telling them how much
I loved their cereal.

Well, not all their cereal.
Not Shredded Wheat
those little bales of hay
on which my parents

grazed each morning
coarse and tasteless
but a “Godsend to the GI system”
my mother said.

No, it was Frosted Flakes
on which I mused
writing with my best beginner cursive
on the crisp white paper.

I praised Tony for the games
on the back of the box
explained that my kid sister
preferred the puzzles

and that we both thought
the toys inside were Gr-r-reat!
and wouldn’t it be Gr-r-reat!
if he sent an extra one for my birthday,

one too big for a cereal box,
noting that it’s Gr-r-reat!
to give gifts and I was Gr-r-reat!
at receiving them.

I concluded
by indicating how Gr-r-reat!
it is to eat Frosted Flakes quickly
so you can have a second bowl

(and how Gr-r-reat! of me
not to mention
that they get soggy
if you eat them slowly).

I figured all of this greatness
meant we’d become fast friends
so I signed the letter as such
adding a postscript reminder that

yes, I had just turned ten.

Published by asaur