Gus and Darlynda
Looking for scratch paper
Gus rips a page from one of Darlynda’s
Victoria’s Secret catalogs
He figures she keeps them as a form of masochism
as she is hipless, flat-chested, and plain
He is no more attractive
with unruly reddish hair and a gangling walk
Now fifty, Gus knows they’re headed for ugliness—
he only hopes they get there tardy
as he always did to school
He still remembers Darlynda in second grade
hanging from monkey bars
a cute little sparkplug despite her buck teeth
This Victoria’s Secret model
has dark eyes and a midriff smooth as ice—
more appealing, he’s sorry to note,
than any current portion of Darlynda
Still, he recognizes that a fashion photographer with an airbrush
could probably make Darlynda sparkle
as she had when they got married, three decades back
on the shore of Lake Michigan
near their hometown of Windchill
where winters are more brutal than fate
Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois has had over twelve hundred of his poems and fiction pieces appear in literary magazines in the United States and abroad. He has been nominated for numerous prizes. His novel, Two-Headed Dog, based on his work as a clinical psychologist in a state hospital, is available for Kindle and Nook or as a print edition. To see more of his work, google Mitchell Krockmalnik Grabois. He lives in Denver.
Clementine Unbound 