Letting Go Aunt Minnie
I remember you in all your faces
from the photograph of a young girl
surprised at being looked at, and later,
Sun brown and strong over the garden hoe
or throwing your head up to one side
around the nanny's rump to milk her.
I remember your white face in the doorway
when you came, night-dressed and uncombed
to tell us to settle down and go to sleep,
The smiling face as you put the lemon pie
to cool just inside the back screen door.
My favorite! I said. You said you know!
Best of all was the face that stayed
indoors while we stripped the hollyhocks
of reds and pinks for dancing ladies.
In the quiet afternoon, our small voices written
on the warm green breeze.
Then came your grandmother and great-
grandmother faces, made up of babies
and children and of the old women
Who used to be your daughters.
Now one more pose
one more shutter click.
Move slightly to one side, just out of
camera range. See the set?
The scene plays on; the mouths are
Still moving. You can look at it
from this point of view:
all glass and the sound of a bell.
Take up the shimmer and enter the sound;
everything is possible. You and I
will be girls together, hold hands and
Swing one another in wild circles.
It's all right; you know all the others
and the rest of us will be there soon.
Copyright © Elizabeth Mccann | Year Posted 2022
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