In our old Yankee town the firemen
filled the hay field with water.
A few days and it froze solid.
We put our skates on next to the fire
in the shed and skated until dark.
When I was seven,
I had a sweet friend
with corn-rowed hair
and starched dresses.
My father made me tell her
I couldn’t play with her any more
Did she have a good life? I’ll never know.
Mrs. Williams gave piano lessons
for 75 cents an hour
and walked the miles
from her house to mine.
I heard that when she passed
her house was full of Civil War coins.
I went to WASP grammar schools
until they built a junior high.
When I open my mouth,
WASP comes out.
It confuses a lot of people
but I just give them my Mona Lisa smile.
I don’t miss the 1950s.
Do you?
Claire L Frankel's first published poem, ‘Deskbound’ appeared in Oberon Magazine in 2019. Her first chapbook, “Working Woman Poetry” was published by Finishing Line Press in October 2020.
Also during Covid, she published a second chapbook “Plague Year Poetry,” and one of her Covid poems was included in the on-line journal of the Writer’s Institute of Albany, New York,
Some recent literary journal publications include:
• “Flowers and Chocolate Lady” in the Macrame Literary Journal, Spring 2024
• “In My Kitchen at Midnight” in the anthology Older Lifespan Volume 11 by Pure Slush, May 2024 Australia
• “I Loved Her but I Didn’t Like Her” in the anthology Death Lifespan Volume 12 by Pure Slush, July 2024 Australia
• “We All Love the Dead” in New Croton Review, Fall 2024
• “So Masculine” in Roi Faiseant June 9, 2024
• “I Dreamt of Planting Trees” in Book of Matches, Issue 12, 2024
• “Russians” in NapLit June 2024
• “The Baby Arrives” in Macrame Fall 2025”
• “New York State Thruway” in The Academy of the Heart and Mind, January 2026
• “Sorry…not Sorry” in “Fifteen” anthology published by Pure Slush, Australia April 2026
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