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Bridgette’s Mustang

23 Apr

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

 

Horse trader come down the draw
In a boil of red-powder dust.
I saw he had a stallion,
And own one that I must.

 

 

“You keep an eye on him.” the trader says.
“He’s mustang through and through,
A wild one from the range.
I’ve got a deal for you.

“You have fine boys and pups,” he said.
The trader wasn’t done.
You need to jaw around these parts.
It’s all that makes life fun.

“My little `un,” says I, “he’s four.”
Two boys are twins you see.
They won’t stay clean at all, at all
They are too much for me.

Them pups ain’t dogs, I say
They’re wolf cubs, as you see,
They’re cute right now, I calculate
But later might not be.

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In The Care Of God

16 Apr

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

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First Cigarette

9 Apr

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

 

 

I saw Daddy’s cigarettes behind the bar.
And thought of glamorous movie stars
Holding cigarettes in dainty poses

One Camel won’t be missed
But what if Daddy catches me?
What if Mother is disappointed in me?
I drew one cigarette from the pack
Snatched a book of matches
And ran the two blocks home from
The restaurant we owned.

Hunkered down in the tall grass
That hid me completely
Without thinking of the smoke
That must rise into the blue sky
Without thinking of the tinder dry grass
Catching fire and burning down the house
I took a drag
Coughed…coughed…coughed
Ground it out in the dirt.

Didn’t smoke again
Until eight years later
Beauty school in Albuquerque
And a big contest to test our hairstyling
So nervous
At Toddlehouse my teacher, Monique
Gave me a cigarette
Here this will calm you down
Is dizzy the same as calm?
Monique gave me a whole pack
Take these home and practice

My young husband and I shared the habit.
After three years I yearned for a child
I worked until my seventh month
Not smoking because even the smell
Made me nauseous
I stopped then, stopped for years
Through the birth of another child
And the move to Space Center country
And I started again.
By then we knew smoking killed people

One day Bill asked the Lord to
Take away his craving for cigarettes
He pulled the pack from his shirt pocket and
Threw it in the trash.
He never smoked again
I prayed too and eventually
God helped me quit
Neither of us ever smoked again
Nor wanted to.
Thank Jesus for His saving grace.

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Dressmaker

2 Apr

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

 

 

 

Every fall before school started
Mother took me to The May Co.
In Denver where they had a
Perfume fountain in which I dipped
My fingers and got a stern look
From a clerk. Well, what’s perfume for?
And I’d had a bath before we got there.
We ordered clothes so that they came
To our small town at the foot of
The Sangre de Cristo range.
On the mail truck.

When Daddy was away in the war
Fabric was rationed.
So, Mother and Grandmother
Took old clothes from
The attic and made dresses and pants
For my brother and me.
One time I was so tired of standing
For pinning up hems that I
Ripped the a dress from top to bottom
And ran out of the room.

Many years later, I had a toddler daughter
Who needed pretty clothes.
Why don’t I make some?
Oh, because I can’t sew.
So I signed up for a night
Class at the high school
And left our daughter at home with her daddy.

Our sewing teacher came from Hungary
With an elegant accent.
With a long history of European Couture
She knew everything about
How clothes had to be assembled.
Rip instead of cutting to get a
Straight piece.
Lay the pattern just so…
To take up the least
Amount of material
Line a jacket with satin, and
Hem the lining separately
Above all, match the natches
(Which we called notches.)
Cut one garment at a time
Cheap ready-to-wear pieces are
Cut in piles with power scissors
Which make the drape warped
When sewn together
Sew in the new invisible zippers by
Hand, not on the Singer.
Innovation is fine, sloppiness is not.

Then Bill and I had a little boy and
When he was two
I made matching sailor suits
For him and his sister
From quality gray gabardine—
Wide collars with red rickrack
And stars in each corner.
I wished that Mother and Grandmother
Could see my work
But by then, they were far away.

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Road Trip~Chimney Rock Monument

29 Mar

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

 

Day 12, September 18, 2017

This morning my body decided to rebel  and sent me to rest for the day. Not wanting to ground everyone else, I suggested they visit the nearby Chimney Rock National Monument.

Since I was not on the trip, I am relying on excerpts from the website:

This undiscovered gem is an intimate, off-the-beaten-path archaeological site located at the southern edge of the San Juan Mountains  in Southwestern Colorado. You’ll walk in the footsteps of the fascinating and enigmatic Ancestral Puebloans of the Chaco Canyon, following primitive pathways that haven’t changed for 1,000 years. Archaeological ruins and artifacts, abundant wildlife, and its setting in the breathtaking San Juan National Forest make Chimney Rock a must-see. 

 

Rebekah and Pam

Also from the monument website:

Chimney Rock is the highest in elevation of all the Chacoan sites, at about 7,000 feet above sea level. From the base, the hike to the top is just a half mile and it’s rewarded with dramatic 360-degree views of Colorado and New Mexico.

 

 

If you enjoy photography, Mountain Photography has a collection of breathtaking photos.

 

They returned from their adventure with stories to tell and I enjoyed hearing them and felt confident I would be feeling better for our trip to Mesa Verde the following day.

Here is my favorite picture of the day.

 

Rebekah and her dad

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Collie

26 Mar

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

 

 

When I was seven,
We got a brown ball of collie,
And named him Brownie.
One day when he was grown
He followed my brother and me
To our parents’ restaurant
Where we’d get ready for school
Somehow I dropped my belt in
The Main Street intersection.
When I went back
There was the dog
With his paws stretched out to
Guard the belt

Once Mother drove us to
The next town a mile away
Taking along a visiting cousin
Who screamed and cried
About Brownie running behind
The car until Mother stopped
And put him in the trunk.

In the fourth of July parade
Brother and I
Sitting at a small table
Eating dinner
Rode in a trailered boat
Behind a car
A sign on the side of the
Boat said, “Eat at Min’s Café.”
And Brownie followed with
A St. Bernard style keg
Around his neck to
Represent liquid refreshment.

On a 35 degree below, snowy day,
Brownie lay on the school stoop
Waiting for us until the
Teacher let him in to lie
On the floor bedside the
Pot-bellied stove and
Thaw icy fur into puddles.

Summers, we rode horses
Over the dry prairie
Watching for hidden mines
And prairie dog holes
Brownie came trotting
Along behind, always.

He went home with us at night
To watch over us in our crime-
Free town while Daddy and Mother
Finished up 16 hour days at the
Restaurant.

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80-60

19 Mar

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

 

 

I’m tired of growing old

So I’ve decided to have

A permanent birthday

To which I will refer hourly

Only God knows how long

I will live, how long

I will die.

He’s in charge of every

Gray hair

He’s in charge of my heart

It’s His to use as he pleases

He’s forever in charge of the future

So one time fits all Happy Birthday to me

Move over 60-years-old and make room

I’ve shaved off 20 years, 3 hours, 24 minutes and 55 seconds.

Pardon me if I act young,

Plan young

Dress young, it’s much more fun

Than walkers, isolation, graves,

The younger I think, the younger I am.

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Black

12 Mar

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

Painting by DiVoran Lites

 

 

I like black, it goes with everything,

Makes me look pale and ethereal

Don’t like my coffee black, though.

 

Mother hated black because…

She had to sew a slew of tiny black buttons

On her Mother’s funeral dress.

 

Red was out for Mother, too,

Especially for church.

It was the color for floozies

 

I wear red to church

I wear black to church

It goes with everything.

 

I like to wear white.

I had a white nylon uniform when I

Worked in the beauty salon.

 

I washed it every night.

When I was pregnant I wore a halter

So my shoulders could help carry.

 

Black is the color of sleep

White is the all-color-ness of purity

Red is the color of our blood

Christ’s blood, too.

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Tea Party

5 Mar

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

 

 

 

My friends love tea parties and so do I.
Grandmother Marie left me her
Collection of fancy teacups and
Mother Dora gave me her creme1940-s
“Ovenware” Tea Pot with flowers on it.
Mother told me all the stories in her world.

 

I heard about when she was a young mother
With two small kiddies. Every day
She would cook oatmeal on a coal stove
Like the one she was cleaning
Just before she went into labor
And had to go to the hospital g-r-u-n-g-y…

 

In those days the men went away
And the women held down the fort
Dora kept a clean, uncluttered house
After every meal.
She washed and dried the dishes
She gathered eggs,
Milked the goat
At five years old, I got to sit on the front step
And drink a glass of hot foamy milk
Dora fed chickens and gathered eggs.

 

Sewed clothes, repaired clothes
Washed clothes
Hung them on the line
To be examined by the neighbors.
And Grandmother Marie.

 

Early every morning
Mother hurried with her work so
She could dress up and
Walk her children down the block to
A neighbor or neighbors
Wanting to save her own cleaning effort
She couldn’t stay long
She had letters to write
To Daddy who was at the front.

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Geese

26 Feb

My Take

DiVoran Lites

 

 

I don’t know much about geese.

I know they are big birds with attitude.

I know they are wild or domestic.

I know there are a lot of them in some places.

 

I know Daddy bought a goose

To fatten for Thanksgiving

And kept it in the shed.

I was supposed to feed it,

But I thought too much and let the goose out

Daddy sent the kids to look for it

All we found was a hut woven of willow branches

Among the willow bushes

Next to Grape Greek.

Inside we saw a mat on the floor

And a picture of a woman

With an old fashioned hair-do

Propped nearby.

When we got home,

Daddy was perturbed, but didn’t punish.

 

In a big lake in Orlando where swans live too

Geese challenge people for the right of way

And you have to stand up for yourself

After all, God gave dominion did he not?

 

In that park we saw a woman filling

A plastic bag with large white eggs

Goose eggs or swan eggs?

And taking them to an official looking car.

Where were they going?

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