these:
Aunt
She talks too loud,
her face
a blur of wrinkles
& sunshine
where her hard hair
shivers
from laughter like a
pine tree
stiff with oil &
hotcombing
O & her anger
realer than gasoline
slung into fire or
lighted mohair
She’s a clothes lover
from way back
but her body’s too big
to be chic
or on cue so she wear
what she want
People just gotta
stand back &
take it like they do
Easter Sunday when
the rainbow she
travels is dry-cleaned
She laughs more than
ever in spring
stomping the
downtowns, Saturday past
work, looking into JC
Penney’s checking
out Sears &
bragging about how when she
feel like it she gon
lose weight &
give up smoking one of
these sorry days
Her eyes are diamonds
of pure dark space
& the air flying
out of them as you look
close is only the
essence of living
to tell, a full-length
woman, an aunt
brown & red with
stalking the years
