POEM #16- BYGONES

I'm writing poetry this month with Mary Lee Hahn, Kevin Hodgson, Steve Peterson, and Carol Varsalona. We've reached the halfway point, and so far I've written every day-- it's been hard for me, but I'm hanging in there. 

"Recital"

ma says there'll be no baseball
or fishin in the creek

'til after i play my violin

she tells me to take a bath
scrub my fingernails extra good
get all that dirt from around the corners
everyone's comin' over
an' she wants me to perform

and then she dresses me up
in tight collared shirt
and stiff Sunday shoes

sits me on this hard kitchen chair
hot August sun beatin' down
on the back of my neck

and i scrape away

while the worms I collected last night
listen from their seats
in the can on the back porch

(C) Carol Wilcox, 2016