Film Noir In The burbs
hubby doesn’t know about the
detective, he’s been nosing
around, asking me all kinds
of questions, while a cigarette
dangles from his mouth.
I invite him into my boudoir,
the two of us in my boudoir,
and I say hey, how about
a drink? I mix us
a couple of highballs,
he says, where were you the
night of the fifth?
I was taking the kids
to the doctors, then to
the grocery store, and they
begged for candy and soda, later
they jumped on the bed,
while I watched a little t.v.,
thats TMI, he said,
what’s with all the questions, I say
you gonna charge me with something?
and I brushed my lips across
his neck while he crushed his
cigarette out in his drink
the ice beginning to melt
just a little, and he said,
I’m coming back tomorrow,
but first I have to follow
some leads, bring some wine,
I told him, and cheese
___________________________
The Genealogy Of Our Great-Grandmother’s Fingers
Their loss
never recorded
in the family bible
next to births, deaths,
& marriages,
not to mention we
know so little
about the family of the
boy who chopped
them off on a dare,
but no doubt
his lineage
followed that
of a great woodsman
who lived upriver,
perhaps if the
circumstances had
been different
they might have
eventually fallen
in love and
gotten married,
she might have
learned to
play the
piano with gusto,
he would
listen quietly
while enjoying
another after-dinner
cigar
I enjoy the work of Melanie Browne.