the worst foods for women over 85

i'm in the garage, not being Sexton, looking at my old car,

flicking the loose paint from around the wheel wells:

This is not the rot that I remember. The trans boy

from the next block walks by wearing his sisters

Nicole Miller, ruched, metallic, purple

bodycon dress. We smile, the un-judged neighbors

that we are. My gladiolas have begun to give themselves

to shadows. The group the previous gardener planted last, also

shows itself in purple. The neighborhood cat, Mr. Tuggles

has sat patiently and watched. Mother, at 85,

wants to drive a car again to be happy but cant remember

what mascara is for; her chin looks of black string

in her white blouse. She rattles the keys from behind the screen door.

A yellow jacket has gotten in and buzzes her eyelids

thinking she's a sweet place for nightingales. They swarm

out from an unknown nest while mother names the plants

and animals she can remember. A light rain falls on

Pennsylvania Ave. The hornets, wanting to die (perhaps like Sexton)

in their best Sunday shawls disappear into the under-house.

We flail at the few remaining like two aged Yastrzemski's.

Time has passed and the hinges of the old house makes

a sound of dying daughters like Glads sucking that final drip

of moisture. "Gunsmoke" blares from the tv we updated to

a Samsung flat screen. An episode we've both seen so often

we mouth Matt Dillon's every word. Soon all the Glads will be gone.

Was Chester before Festus, we ponder? Is Ms Kitty still alive?

Why does Doc always walk hunched over?  We hate "Bones"

but in the rain the Direct TV signal drifts by

in a cloud-shaped crackle. I'm thinking of the dead hornets

the way Macarthur did the dying in Bataan, didn't he?

Either of us has a leg that's shorter than the other.

We split a peanut butter and jam sandwich, mother says the

peanut butter is old. I admire the actor who plays her,

how they always stay in character. We both sleep off our

Benadryl side effects. The moon, so adept at finding still things,

locks on Mr. Tuggles eyes and the sapphires that he pretends

to see from, shines bright like some lost

or stolen ring.

Reviews

[Cory Barrett]

Dana, I have to agree with Jacob, I am completely drawn into your writing here; as if it weren’t writing at all. Its clichéd that a picture is worth a thousand word, but in so much less you have left me with so many snap shots. Like I was watching a slide show on a Kodak Carrousel in your living room swatting the moon glare interfering with my vision; wondering if the cat will be inside my car engine when I leave, and wondering if it’s tail is safe, and wondering if it’s tale is safe.

Poetry and I have been fighting lately. This was good medicine. Thank you.

[h d e rushin]

thank you dear brother....I've missed you terribly...dana

[M. Shepherd]

"Mother, at 85,
wants to drive a car again to be happy but cant remember
what mascara is for" love that line.
The heartwrenching and ponderous everydaily.

[h d e rushin]

thanks Marcie...Sometimes truth takes over poetic mystery. And at other times, poetry stems
from real events....thank you my friend....dana

[Ed Hart]

how many poems can dance from the heart of an angel, that's what i want to know, sitting here impaled, so far from home

[h d e rushin]

thank you Ed.....that was my Ellen Bass imitation..And both she and you and Jacob are masters at
read morethank you Ed.....that was my Ellen Bass imitation..And both she and you and Jacob are masters at
bringing the hard parts of life home..

[A hare off]

I'm not really sure what to say except, damn! What a collection of thoughts and visions, like walking through a maze with windows at the end of every corridor to peer out and see something exciting, different, odd or right there everyday in your face life. "Was Chester before Festus?" Good question, I don't know the answer. If they appeared in alphabetical order, then yes. This was great, I'm still thinking about it.

[h d e rushin]

thank you my friend A hare off for those kind comments...and for stopping by once again to visit me....dana

[jacob erin-cilberto]

i am really taken by this....love the reference to Sexton's "wanting to die"

i did my masters thesis on Plath and Sexton...any reference to either of them draws me right in.


and the gunsmoke...ah yes, chester in the early days, festus later...i still watch episodes of that on encore westerns..along with bat masterson, wyatt earp and wanted dead or alive.

and that damn satellite when it rains...so annoying...trying to watch the weather and losing the signal...some help that is...
so sad...watched my parents do the same...wanting to drive but can't remember where to go...

like the aged yaztremskis...colorful analogy...

absorbing but oh so sad piece.....and that cat watches it all from his perch.
and i wonder what is going through his mind.

[h d e rushin]

I remember you mentioning your thesis on Plath and Sexton..Damn, you had a lot a material
to work with since both were the embodiment of the living having this strange fixation with
dying. I am currently reading Diane Middlebrook's biography of Ms. Sexton which is eye opening
to say the least. But I was doing my Ellen Bass imitation of her "lifelike' style. Thanks for
those kind remarks my friend....dana