For These Thy Gifts

in #steempress5 years ago


1. Warm Up
from jeans and flannel shirt
to frumpy homemade dress

family is not company
I try

put it on
my mother grits

itchy frills don’t
make the girl
underneath my breath

the oven buzzes
time

twenty minutes every year
from grace to opening drive

  1. Kick off
    good food
    good meat
    good God
    let’s eat
    my southern uncle
    scores a laugh

the booze rolls out
and passing starts

what we know:
who tackles turkey legs
gets our respect

my Spanish uncle dives
for one crisp stick
my father clips his son
nabs the other one
earns my mother’s glance

three aunts tally points for
green bean casserole
yams and marshmallows
cocktailed fruit in red jell-o

the score sits tied

  1. Half time
    my northern uncle lays
    his head on hands that splay
    the crocheted cloth

someday my pool
face down beneath
the floating things

the dishes stop mid-wash
and whipped cream hangs
around a chilled red bowl

don’t feel that way
don’t talk like that
don’t be such an ass

the frilly itch goes on
beside the pumpkin pie

  1. Time out
    God,
    I’m sending back
    blue-collar slurs that make me blush
    taunts-to-tears about my weight
    girdle garters sissy curls
    do not send again

  2. Overtime
    laughs threats doggie bags
    cigarette butts whiskey breath
    bounty of worlds that end
    one
    by
    one amen

Previously published in Carolyn Martin, Finding Compass (Portland, OR: Queen of Wands Press, 2011)


Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://therelationshipblogger.com/for-these-thy-gifts/

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