Blue Ash, Ohio Celebrates a Wedding

September 20, 2007   |   Emily Seife

I took a walk in the dead
afternoontime, after we swam
in the hot hotel pool. Then the succession

of showers, hairdryers, careful
application to the lower lid.

...

All morning the ladies sit outside under the trees
on plastic chairs. Judy with
the wide breasts comes out, twisting back her long hair

and focusing all her attention down
to her tiny feet taking each step-
They throw a crab apple at her;

it bounces gaily off the concrete. She looks up
just in time to see us all walk by.

...

In the kitchen the bald cousin
eats pistachios and tells about how,
the night before his wedding, he stood,

palms pressed to the wall, as his brother
tried to remove a tick with
hot tweezers from his bare bottom.

...

My plane was delayed an hour, now it's been
pushed back a day. I put my suitcase
under the chair in the guest room

and pull off the top blanket
as though their home was a cheap motel
for a pause after driving through the night.

...

It was later that it became a fixation,
something bright to hold up
to my life. I felt like someone

was drawing a height chart on my wall
after my bones had already reached their limits.