Three Poems

A Good Man

quietly inside of me
remembering —
always remembering
the capon my mother cooked
to please the man she loved,
a man that came home every night
put on his slippers and smoked his pipe
they’d sit and chat and watch TV
Gunsmoke, Ed Sullivan, Lawrence Welk
and always Dad’s favorite – Edith and Archie,
Meathead, Gloria, the Jeffersons, or Jackie
threatening to send Alice to the moon
I didn’t know how I’d miss this man,
— who took me in the woods
with beagle pups running through
— or showed me how to pick
only the good mushrooms
— or sit for hours in silence
trying to hook a catfish
— or let me kneel beside him
weeding the garden he always grew
If I had three lifetimes I could not list it all ..
the good things that I remember
about this man called Dad.

About Words

My nana loved books
it seemed to me
she grew them
in her room
I would listen
to words
I didn’t know
but somehow Nana
wrapped her love
around each word
and stored them
in my soul ….

I don’t remember
what was read
or why or when
she chose
the books she did
their secret meaning
like bulbs planted
their roots deeply hid
embedded in my mind
under layers of ignorance
shutes of Nana’s wisdom
fertilized by experience
pushing ever upwards
through the soul
to be harvested
by my pen …

The Aftermath

I have heard it said
hell hath no fury
like a woman scorned
but sometimes…
the soul is so torn
no will remains
all hope is gone
each sober breath
— an instant replay
of every mistake
regretfully made
used to be easy
to stop all the pain
couple of whiskey shots
then a few more again
whenever the tear
started to bleed
get pissy ass drunk
maybe some weed
nothing to lose
nothing to gain
just one more
drunk chick
living in shame …

Ah well..

THOSE were the days
some things are just
never the same.

MarySusan Williams-Migneault, founder of RoadHousePress (1989) and the Road Scribes of America, has been writing and promoting the work of others for most of her 64 years. She resides on the north Ssore of Massachusetts. More of her work can be seen on roadscribesofamericatm.com or roadhousepress.com.

–MarySusan Williams-Migneault