Sunday, April 24, 2016

Iva




Iva

Dear Henry,
Yes, that's me --
on the outside.

Inside, I'm still the girl
who could out-race and out-spell you
with one arm tied

behind my back!
Keep sending your poems about the homeplace.
They're what's keeping the true me alive.


©Mary Lee Hahn, 2016


3 comments:

  1. I wonder where Iva has gone? To college in Denver?

    I can't stand not finishing what we started, so it was back to Kinko's tonight.

    "Regrets"


    Ma told me not to cut my hair
    she said after years of growing
    she was sure I would regret it
    and besides it would take forever,
    at least five years, to grow back


    but that Friday night
    four of us were lounging in Alice's bedroom
    drinking cherry cokes
    and gossiping about who was going to ask who
    to the Spring Formal


    and all of a sudden
    totally out of the blue Alice said
    that we should all cut our hair
    because we would look like the girls in the magazines
    and besides, it would be much cooler
    and more comfortable when we played tennis
    this summer


    it seemed like a good idea
    so Alice got her ma's sewing scissors
    and we started chopping away
    Alice said we should cut mine first
    because it would take the longest


    her ma came in when
    we were halfway through
    eighteen inches gone
    off the left side
    she gasped and said,
    "Your mother is not going to be happy"


    and she was partially right
    my mother was not happy
    she went in her bedroom
    and cried when she saw me
    but then she came back out
    and helped me finish the right side
    so at least it would be even


    when she was done
    she showed me a picture from Harper's
    I really do look like all of those college girls
    out on the tennis courts
    but then I went in my bedroom and cried
    Alice was probably right
    it will be cooler when we play tennis
    but my ma was right too


    I miss my hair.


    (C) Carol Wilcox, 2016

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    Replies
    1. I knew this would be a big jump. We last heard from Iva on April 5-7. She and her mother moved to Denver when her mother claimed her inheritance from her uncle (Iva's great uncle).

      But your poem seems like it could be Lizzy from back on April 2...or from anyone (all of us?) who has had haircut regret?!?!

      I am impressed by the dedication of the writer who will go to Kinkos and deal with a PC in order to make it to the finish line with this project! You're a real trooper, a dedicated writer, and a true friend!

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  2. The first poem was very much reminding me of the American idea of what soldier's liked to hear from the homefront -- the second reminds me of Fitzgerald's "Bernice Bobs Her Hair!" I like both.

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