HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY
(Apropos Of Mother, Aunts, And Our Sister)
God not only gave us Mother,
He also gave us her Sisters, too:-
All praises be to God for giving us
Mother Dear, her Mothering Sisters,
And our beloved elder Sister, too:
Happy Mother’s day to them all;
Resting together with dear God
In Mothering peace and love:-
persnickety aunts probably authored private annuals
providing all plebes and prospects a polite answer
allowing provocative avid public a peek
at potential artistic playgrounds amid positive attitudes
plentiful alluring prancing and allegiance provided
amid persnickety aunts pleasing astronomical prospects
allegedly pleasant as polite aunties possibly assent
plebes always providing appreciative provocative audience
Elsie, Lucy, Olive, this small boy's remarkable old aunts.
Oh, how they rubbed their hands.
But with glee or sorrow? Or even anger?
Elsie had a strict-looking expression -
when not rubbing her hands.
Lucy wore spectacles that pinched her nose
and, oh, had such a thin smile -
when not rubbing her hands.
Olive seemed serious, often frowning at me -
when not rubbing her hands.
But when they were rubbing their hands
they were ridding those hands of
flour that helped to make a cake or of
flour that helped to make a Yorkshire pudding or of
flour that helped to make joy -
the joy of making that cake or that Yorkshire pudding;
or of spiteful expressions they might wear when sneering
at this small boy, who would have to eat
their cakes or their Yorkshire pudding, or absorb
their sneers - sneers that were also smiles.
We remember our aunts in
the most remarkable ways.
I was a small boy.
(April 2023)
(Elsie appears in two other poems: "Aunty Elsie's Bathroom" and "Coronation for a King")
the aunts come for coffee
in their daytime dresses
always sharp with lipstick
they take long drags on their cigarettes and wave their hands
in the smoke
while they talk
in small whispers so we can't hear
and then louder
about whose baby is due
what cousins getting married
more coffee
in nice weather they'll sit outside
big Jackie O glasses
small time 60's ladies
heading into the revolution
Penn's Aunts, patch-eyed women
Cutlass carried, pistol too
You mess with Sean,
They mess with you
Give his movie a bad review,
You'll walk the plank,
That's what they'll do.
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