Hanging with Auntie

by Earl J. Wilcox

 

Aunt Rachel hangs on Fridays with the ladies at the
Simply Blessed Beauty Parlor,
a place where tarts and au pair have their hair
done.

Days when Momma goes to work early, Auntie
lets me tag along. Auntie's favorite
Blessed sister to shampoo her blue, beehive
do

is Sharonda, a light sweetie with a gimpy left leg,
humming, "You Gotta Walk that
Lonesome Valley," but keeping herself busy,
limping

& primping three ladies at once. Bug-eyed with
raised brows, I nudge Auntie about
the low hanging mammaries, which is what
Auntie

says I should call those boobs that, I swear,
were swinging and swaying,
keeping right good time with sweet Sharonda's
solo

hymn sing. Last time I went to the Blessed
with my Auntie, I tip-toed around
the cracked, checkered tile, stepping artfully
through

swirling, silken curlicues of rat-rolled hair
Miss Matilda had cut & left
carelessly scattered about. Auntie laughed aloud.
Amen

 

©2005 Earl J. Wilcox

Earl J Wilcox, retired after more then 40 years of university teaching, has only recently begun writing fiction and poetry. He has published books on Frost, London, and others, and directed an international conference on Frost. An avid St. Louis Cardinal baseball fan, his recent poem, "There Is No Crying in Baseball," appears in the Fall 2005, issue of Third Lung Review. His work also appears in Strange Horizons, The South Carolina Review and Robert Frost Review.