Extraordinary Sunshine Weaver

Nolcha Fox and I wrote this poem together. Our collaborations turned into Too Much Fun To Be Legal (Garden of Neuro Publishing, 2024). This feels like a good time for some light-hearted words.

Payne Comes for Tea

Uninvited again.
Slaps my ailing knee.
“How’s it goin’?
Not up and about yet?
How ‘bout a jog 
around the block? What!
Can’t do gravel for weeks? 
How can I help? Dishes?
Oh, my arthritis is killing me!
Maybe next time. Can you spare 
some Tramadol?

I serve Payne
headache laced with Toradol
on a plate.
I drop the napkins
to make her 
gravel on her knees.
Before she leaves,
I give her a doggy bag
of arthritis and sick stomach.
I hope she enjoyed her tea.

Payne arrives
with her sewing kit.
Saw a video on YouTube. 
Now an expert. Sticks needles 
into my surgery knee. 
“Acupuncture?” I ask.
“What’s that? I just need
a pin cushion for this thing.” —
The thing she sticks in my mouth 
to keep me quiet.

I am not quiet when Payne arrives.
I growl, I snarl,
I’m a woodsy thing, shaggy,
unmanageable.
I bite, I tear.
Payne is a
pincushion.

Payne says she comes for tea. 
But she simply comes for me. 
Again and again. 
No matter how many goodie bags 
of Pepto Bismol, baby aspirin, floss
I send her out the door with. But 
an apple a day won’t keep Payne away.

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