Chad Parenteau

Coming to

Memphis mothers right
reflex-reach handed wipe sweat
raise kids likewise

for obsolete levers
justify thongs
claiming they complete

perfect white pants
mothers’ hand-downs
finally creaseless.

Oh, Fathers,
where are your thoughts
rubbed by revision

thirty years before
hands above old waist
lines knowing now

a little earth shaking
would have wrought
no new reflections.


return to  SHAMPOO 39