Product 27
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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Vickie Hall is a 28 year old live-wire polymath with focuses in the performing arts, poetry/song writing and food. Recently seen as Loud Stone in "Eurydice" at USM, Hall is grateful to further hone her writing skills under the tutelage of Dr. Rebecca Morgan Frank as well as the craft of live performance under the instruction of Monica Hayes and Robin Carr. She has been previously published on eHow.com and thanks Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allen Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, her family and a network of extremely talented friends for inspiring her daily since at least the 2nd grade. This poem is dedicated to the memory of Ralph Hall, 1953-2007.