My Aunt

My Auntie When he entered his aunt’s basement flat I had been in the yard when she called me in she squatted over a bucket of water, cleaning her fanny I handed her a towel and a bottle of spray cologne My aunt was not like other aunts took no interest In knitting woolly socks for African children She was a free spirit and loved men, but she preferred Teutonic men and disliked the Latin types, except once When we children brought home a black cook from A banana ship; he spent two nights in her bed but looked pale when the captain came to fetch him. Once, after the war, she sat on a leafy tree for three days when a band of righteous men went looking for and rape women who had been friendly to the Germans. Once, on a bus tour to Germany, she visited her former lovers who, by now, had grandchildren; I don’t think their wives liked her visit. When she moved to a roomier home, I liked nothing better then on Sundays, sit in her kitchen, eat pepper cakes drink coffee and smoke cigarettes.