Joy on the Front Steps
Original EveryPoem Studio house-voice poem.
My mother turns the speaker
out toward the front steps
and dances before dinner.
Mail still unopened.
Work shoes still on.
One grocery bag waiting
beside the door.
She pulls my aunt into the song.
A neighbor claps from her window.
For three bright minutes,
no one asks her to be strong.
She is laughing,
off beat,
and entirely her own.
61 words · 14 lines · Free Verse