Family Scripture
It’s better not to know.
If you knew, how would you stand it?
It’s better not to cry.
If you start, how would you stop?
It’s better not to feel.
If you feel, you might tell.
It’s better not to tell.
Secrets keep us safe
It’s better not to ask.
If we answered, you’d be sorry.
All you need to know is
It’s better not to know.
Tom Thumb Wedding Photo, 1956
Just turned seven
I am singing
in an itchy turquoise sequined
evening gown
clutching a bouquet of rosebuds,
ham-scented by their sojourn
in the fridge.
I am not the bride
but the second singer
in this end-of-first-grade rite
and I love my song
Because you come to me
with naught save love
though I don’t know
what kind of love that is.
I do know my Aunt Stokes
stitched me this dress,
Daddy brought home the roses,
and Mother baked the biscuit
that put the shine
on my patent leather shoes.
In Passing
So
my
mother
and I
were in
the
one
depart
ment
store
in my
home
town
and
we met
my
general
science
teacher
and
her
daughter
coming
down
stairs
as
we
were
going
up.
Up
to
where
I
used
to
buy
chubbies
in
the
kids’
depart
ment
and
where
I
now
proudly
wore
a
nine
which
I
hoped
would
be
a
seven
maybe
even
a
five
before
I
got
married.
And
Joy
Rice,
my
former
teacher
said,
by
way
of
hello,
Isn’t
life
better
than
anything?
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George Ella Lyon’s recent poetry collections include She Let Herself Go, Many-Storied House and Voices from the March on Washington, co-written with J. Patrick Lewis. A freelance writer and teacher, Lyon is particularly interested in the poetry of witness. She served as Kentucky Poet Laureate (2015-2016). She is the co-founder, with Julie Landsman, of the I Am From Project, a national project to gather new poetry in response to the troubled state of the nation. See more at https://iamfromproject.com/about/.
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