Spraznicum Esho

Happy International Women's Day!

Sunset in Sun City
(for mom)

I.
Wheelchair ruts in faded red carpets
Crowded lobbies, hushed corridors
Grab a seat, the matinee is about to start.

Ancient limos, giant and shinny
Pull up to the grand promenade
Before the majestic doors.

The music of large bands is
Swinging in syncopation,
Swaying in orchestrated phrases.

It will soon be flashing lights, fancy dames,
Reporters bending in to catch what’s said,
Cigarettes and whisky until the dawn.

II.
Alone in the school yard
Two miles away, the squeak
Of a metal swing fractures the silence.

She actually enjoys the sound of it,
The desperate cry of some
Tortured giant metal bird.

No mom or dad around.
Nobody to play with,
The metal shrieking in pain.

III.
The old begin to gather
In after dinner sitting rooms
Chairs roll on careful rubber treads

Across padded carpets, or glide with a lisp
Down level linoleum paths as if descending.
A walker makes soft metalic clunks

Bangs in muted hollowness
Against the table as the woman
Surrenders to the chair.

There the show begins;
Not talking, staring straight ahead
She sees what no one still alive can remember.

She cries, she sighs, she smiles,
She holds dad’s hand.