Silence Filled with Remembrance

Silence Across the Sideyards 
Mary Langer Thompson      
for Diane

The eve of your daughter's wedding

I am drawn toward home.

I park in front

of where we used to live.

Two houses,

side by side,

repeopled, remodeled,

remembered.

Fresh from Chicago

we moved in.

California, 1956.

Dad cleaned and scrubbed,

unable to find work.

Mom took a job at Citizen's Bank.

Tired of Our Miss Brooks

and Mr. Ed's peanut buttered palate,

I wandered outside

dissolving a grape fizzy on my tongue.

There you were,

ten years old with blonde braids.

Of course your eyes were blue,

and we hula-hooped

from strangers to sidekicks.

You taught me to polka

down your hallway,

past your room

directly across from mine.

Soon I started to whistle

across the sideyards

whenever I had news.

You would appear,

see me

curlered and Clearasiled.

After school we'd dance

to American Bandstand.

Overnight, we'd ride Route 66

to see Steve Allen.

You learned to drive first.

Of course your car was blue.

                                                                                                 

A whistle

and soon a light

to share moments from dates,

while your dog, Lucky,

paced beneath our windows.

Between learning and teaching

we married.

I stood in your wedding--

(of course my dress was blue)

and you in mine.

We birthed our babies

a month apart.

Yours will marry tomorrow.

The disease

bombarded your blood

and took you quickly.

Within three days.

We buried you in blue.

A woman now collects

autumn leaves,

and rose petals,

like tears,

lie on the lawn.

I strain to hear

a whisper of a whistle,

but all I hear is

silence across the sideyards.

*******

Mary Langer Thompson has published poetry, short stories, and articles in a variety of anthologies and journals, most recently Quill and Parchment, Silk Road Review, and Off the Coast. She is a contributor to The Working Poet (Autumn Press, 2009), a poetry writing text. A former elementary school principal and secondary English teacher, Mary is an active member of the California Writers Club, High Desert Branch.

Poem, copyright Mary Langer Thompson, All rights reserved.

Previously published in So Luminous the Wildflowers: An Anthology of California Poets, edited by Paul Suntup.

Images copyright Ysabel de la Rosa, All rights reserved.