August 26, 2003
St. Martinville
I loved her as a boy
a 30 watt man's mind remembers
something swept into a corner
long overlooked then seen
like discovering an old stuffed wallet
grab anything that doesn't disintegrate
anything smelling of Chanel No 5
In a sixty year archive of names
there is 'Fanny' the school teachers daughter
a winter night she wore mottled rabbit fur
knew "La Bohème" was an opera
pronounced it correctly
her full name--Fanny Voorhies--
a four syllable aria
Her hair
a teasing boyfriend would call
mousey brown laser straight
smiles pinched tiny corrugations across her nose
dawn white skin lay beneath a galaxy of freckles
--freckles which as a boy
defined girlish beauty
before the epiphany of breasts