I’m the child, Aunt Lil is Aunt Lil
the grocer calls her Miss Jones
two aunts are Miss Joneses but Lil is
the Miss Jones wanted on the telephone
to take down the particulars about
the boy who fell from a tree & broke
two limbs, about grandparents Mr & Mrs
male name surname from Flushing
NY who are visiting their daughter Mrs
male name surname for two weeks
what a pittance Aunt Lil receives
to record these notes on her steno pad
transcribe them on her stiff-armed typewriter
onto off-white newsprint scraps, deliver
the small news to the local paper
she lets me type too, items I invent
for issues that never run — Aunt Lil
stirs the oatmeal & clothespins laundry
decides what we’ll eat for lunch & dinner
manages the funds, pays the bills
Mrs Smith her lifelong friend
gabbing at the kitchen table is common
by comparison — what Aunt Lil says
is firm & smiling & kind, she tends
to diabetic old Ma in her wheelchair
takes her to the toilet, bathes & dresses her
ties her shoes, takes her off to bed
afterward a lightness I never see any other
time of day — Aunt Lil trimly beautiful
never marries, I admire most the look
that comes into her eyes when someone
says something she thinks foolish
or doesn't believe, a blankness adults
ignore, or appear not to notice
a look nothing a child says ever receives
No comments:
Post a Comment