Poetry and Prose from the Center for Writers
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by VICKIE HALL
Dad
His teasing words danced
language weaving beats and rhymes
steps my eardrums had yet to tango.
With smile simmering in Mississippi heat,
Pride and Laughter bubbled in his soul.
Their child, Mischief, dashed across hazel eyes
lounging in his mind’s brewing dream.
Pipe smoke stained talk of O. Henry, the Titanic,
Elton, gumbo, Van Gogh and Kennedy
momentarily stilled in reverence for a recitation
of The Canterbury Tales.
First stopping and starting,
speech catapulted in lordly leaps
while leaping and twisting.
Scintillating Sin slith’ring through the air around it
crashing in waves around the room.
And as the prologue ended
his hazel eyes splashed in their tubs
I realized Dad and Genius
had been dancing all the while.
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