eternity
reverend frostedhair with her thick ankles
and not altogether sensible shoes
asks if the tiny squaller’s parents
so pretty and dashing respectively
at their union mere years ago
in spite of the infernal heat
but gone already to paunch and splotchiness of skin
will raise the tiny squaller in the prescribed way
and a little embarrassed to be up there they mumble their accession
and the reverend frostedhair dampens the tiny squaller
and beaming in the peanut gallery
back to grandmother’s then with its knickknacks galore
and hardly an inch of wall not covered by
framed snapshots and tiles bearing handpainted slogans
in the native tongue of grandmother’s grandfather
this being a clan forever marveling at the antiquity of its spoons
and swaddling clothes
the meal is church lady food
premasticated-looking casseroles whose ingredients
only a far better trained eye than my own might discern
but the assembled ravenous little multitude
the tiny squaller’s aunts uncles and their signifothers
and nanny and mother thereof
eyes it longingly
as our hostess remains preoccupied at her microwave
and it grows ever less hot
and even when she finally joins us
everyone must first touch his glass to absolutely everyone else’s and
the churchlady food is by no means more scrumptious for its tepidness
in the face of which wholesomeness i come as never before
to fathom eternity
|
