Watching Rings of Smoke
Every afternoon our eyes
met – she stared like the
grocery man – and my friend's. . .
She sits to rest on a metal
milk box – our side homogenized
grandmother upstairs –
pasteurized. . .
She takes a swig from a
bottle of beer, lights a Chester –
field. Smoking - she calls it,
she takes it, inside – holds
it. . . for a long – time before
floating out her nose like a cloud.
Her mouth a circle of rings
of smoke - exiting her lip’s,
divided by her tongue. . .
All Mamas in the neighborhood
smoke cigarettes –
wear halter tops, and a red
kerchief on her forehead to
keep sweat from rolling down
their faces onto a tube top –
All Mamas wear tube tops. . .
shove Kleenex inside to look
big. . .
You watch what your mother
does.
Nancy Duci Denofio
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