Hi folks,

After much thought, I've finally gotten (My) Marla and (Christina's)
Thelma together, at least in the same building and the same poem! C&C
welcome.

~*~

Wild Thoughts At The First National Bank

The line snakes back and forth upon itself.
Little by little people zig-zag
to the opening at the end.
A vacant-eyed woman yells, Next!
I can help the next person!

Marla clutches her purse
between ribs and arm,
watches each person in turn,
wonders if they've dishes
left unwashed in the sink.

She suspects the woman
huddled in the baggy gray sweater
owns a shedding dog
and barely suppresses the urge
to pick at hundreds of black hairs
covering the woman's sleeve.
Marla wants to gag.

She wonders if their families
pray together before dinner
or at bedtime for the lost,
if their curtains are white,
if they have mice in the attic,
if the mice have been caught in traps,
if the traps have been emptied
or if the tiny bodies grow stiff
waiting in the dark,
heads cocked unnaturally
under the rodent's severe version
of limbo-stick.

She thinks the man
in the wrinkled blue shirt looks unkempt,
imagines his small empty bed,
gray sheets rumpled,
shades drawn regardless of day or night,
snack wrappers strewn on floor,
dirty clothes piled in corner.
The thought disgusts her.

Marla watches the next woman in line.
The woman looks familiar.
She's seen her before,
around, and then it's the woman's turn
and Marla's eyes follow her as she approaches
the Next! properly dressed teller.
The lady lays down her paperwork,
slides it toward the other woman
who takes it and asks,
Are you Thelma? Is this you?
Do you have an account with us?
Yes, the woman replies, of course.
I wouldn't have come here if I didn't.

Marla smiles to herself
and wonders why tellers
ask such inane questions.
She feels a kindred connection
to this Thelma; if they ever met properly,
they might even become friends.

Friends. As if Marla would consider
friendship! An invasion into her life
offering coffee, cookies and companionship!
Someone dropping by unexpectedly. Oh no
that would never do. Oh no.
Never do.

She unconsciously shakes her head,
drops her eyes to the floor
and waits for the snake
to expel her toward
the Next! available teller.

~*~

Cheerwell, Mary :O)


=====
Good Cheer & Be Well,
Maryann Hazen-Stearns
"Under The Limbo Stick"
http://www.geocities.com/Faerhart/
also available at these locations:
http://www.vivisphere.com  http://www.amazon.com

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