There was an old painting in my grandparents' attic. Neither beautiful nor ugly, it simply depicted an empty room with no figures, an old living room with an armchair, library, and fireplace
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Sugar-girl
cherry-cheeked
(double dimples)
freckle-kissed and sweaty:
pavement-scraped sanguine-elbows
dusty soles
blackened like cow-pies.
Baskets (crab-apple
stomach-aches
(lucky-day) wild-strawberries
ant-ridden
ruby-reds):
knobby climbing-trees
(sassafras,
tick-bites)
home for supper
(with sweet tea).
First in
freedom.
Big-girl of first-in-flight:
rotten-teeth
yes-ma'am
no-sir
Sped up, dropped drawl;
same dimples.
No trace of red-necked girl,
new place with real winter;
stinky-tar
turf-grass
snow-boots
dirty-slush;
haven't smelled
sun in weeks
(stale air, plastic Christmas tree)
cicada-less
summer.
cherry-cheeked
(double dimples)
freckle-kissed and sweaty:
pavement-scraped sanguine-elbows
dusty soles
blackened like cow-pies.
Baskets (crab-apple
stomach-aches
(lucky-day) wild-strawberries
ant-ridden
ruby-reds):
knobby climbing-trees
(sassafras,
tick-bites)
home for supper
(with sweet tea).
First in
freedom.
Big-girl of first-in-flight:
rotten-teeth
yes-ma'am
no-sir
Sped up, dropped drawl;
same dimples.
No trace of red-necked girl,
new place with real winter;
stinky-tar
turf-grass
snow-boots
dirty-slush;
haven't smelled
sun in weeks
(stale air, plastic Christmas tree)
cicada-less
summer.
7