My Mom Went For

My mother went for Japanese surgeons
Greek doctors
tall Jews
maitre d’s from Guadalajara
all - American beatniks

dances, food, music, jeweled sandals
laughter, sarcastic comments
always holding her own
a bit aloof and if that didn’t work
anger, cut to the quick, cut out
shunned.
in other words, the Silent Treatment
before rage, or,
sometimes after.

the freeze could last for an hour or years
but later, friends to the end, laughing again
in the jeweled sandals, red toenails glittering
as she danced.



regan lee
(12.2017)