Stanzaic Stylings

Breakfast with Ted No one goes to the patio now   except at night when Ann goes out to spread old bread  and sunflower seed on the small table for birds  to eat at dawn. The next morning she gets up early and watches the birds from  the breakfast nook where she and Ted would sit and marvel   at the pecking order. First the sparrows arrive  and eat as fast as possible before the cardinals and jays come and take command. Then the starlings land  and raise a ruckus  even when the table is theirs alone. The starlings leave like jets on a mission and  in just a few minutes  two doves drop down. One walks behind the other  and they eat whatever  is left behind. It’s no wonder Ann’s partial to one of the doves.  He reminds her of Ted and lets the other dove  walk ahead and ea...

An Ozarks Fourth of July World War II was over but still fresh in the minds of folks who lived  in Bill’s hometown in the Ozarks. Independence Day was important. It called for a celebration. When his father had the money, and that was rare, he would buy  a lamb for the Fourth of July. He'd roast the animal on a spit in the yard, turning it slowly  and dousing it with mop sauce. Bill was 10 on the Fourth in 1948.  His job was to make the ice cream  turning the crank on the freezer. His relatives would watch in the yard  and laugh and yell when he had to pause and go to the bathroom. Banana ice cream, his father’s  favorite, had to be just right. Never stop turning the crank. In 1948, there were no parades  in town or concerts on TV. No television sets back then and  the town was too small for a parade. But after the Great War, people  ...

After His Wife’s Last Operation He often got bored with her hobby talk     but this weekend he looks forward to   hours of cooking shows on television   while he talks with her about her quilting.   He finally accepts that she is dying as the doctor told him after her last operation.     She is still his core, he knows, his centering,   and he tells her often now he loves her  but she will never know how much. If he could tell other men one thing  it would be to cherish who and what  a wife is while they have one.