Purple

the same joy and contentment I've always known when I've entered their home. I guess it's an oasis for me, a place of refuge against the cold unscrupulous world that is so much a part of our daily lives. It's almost as if I become a child again, swaddled in a protective cocoon of innocence. And that's a feeling I've grown to cherish. Although Mother will never nestle beside the Hope Diamond in the Smithsonian , she is, to me, another precious gem. Like the translucent stone, the opal, Mother is soft, but strong, and she shines with an inner light that comes from her steadfast faith in God. Apology To My Wife Your weathered face still starry eyed, sun-burnished brown by hard days work, belies semblance of youth exuded in timed movements of lithesome grace; when you waltz through field and garden, or two-step by stove at suppertime to cook our meal without complaint. And after, cuddled in your easy chair with hooked needle and crochet yam to make do. Your coquettish glances at nine o'clock, your bedtime manner unchanged, invites as to those first nights of wondrous marriage bliss. Though I, no longer able to accomodate can only apologize. —Paul Lee Purple for John Purple lines my plain away from you. But we are still connected And always will be, the wolf is at our door. We love great lines, good food our bellies' swell. Good days lie golden in our throats. One silver thread away, green apples dwell. -Jenny Lind Cawood A Dark Closet Minds My Memories A child, I invented a mind closet to hide my hurts. There I shelved the taunts about my sister's illegitimate child and the voice sneering, "You walk like a boy." In a corner, I threw my uncle's attempted abuse, and I hung the neighbor's challenge, "You can't go to college 'cause your dad ain't got no money." In a flowered cannister, I flung my first love's rejection. Later I boxed my husband's betrayal and covered the edges with strapping tape. I canned my sister's violent voice and shut the door. -Wilma Stanley Aeree 58 ...