Man Of The House

[Billy]

Man Of The House

I cook for them. Curried tofu and garbanzo beans,
careful with the chilis, they don't like it hot.
Stir-fries. My own rendition of Sezchuan.

They love my dill weed potato salad. It's
okay because I like to cook. The hard part's
livin' with three women. The older one

says I look like Errol Flynn. She likes my jokes.
"You're not really 55," she says. I sing old songs
to her: 5 foot 2 Eyes of Blue; Hey, Good Lookin'

What Ya Got Cookin'. If she stubs her toe
or burns her finger, she'll yell, "Oh, Bolshevik".
The middle one doesn't laugh at my jokes.

She tells me when to brush my teeth, how I
ought to prepare the rice, thinks I turn my head
like her father, spout corny witticisms like him.

She cajoles the older one to assent to this. The
young one calls me different names depending on
her mood. Yesterday, she washed my pots and pans.

Today, she complains the food is too spicy.
These women blacken the bottoms of skillets.
They think the bigger the flame the better.

[BobBradshaw]

Good poem. No crits

[Michael (MV)]

Hi Billy,

This reads familiar to me - is my memory serving me accurately?

Michael (MV)

[Billy]

Thanks Bob

Yes, it’s an old poem, never published. I might have posted it a long time ago

[FranktheFrank]

Its another puzzle to me.

[Billy]

Maybe it needs to be clearer about the characters. I thought the reader would realize the older woman is the mother-in-law because the middle one, the daughter, tries to cajole her into agreeing that N is like her father and the older woman would know because she’s the mother. And the younger one who is sometimes nice sometimes not the daughter.

[iowaboy99]

I think I might know these women.

Love the last two lines, where the poem opens up to other possibilities, where the women act instead of receive.

I take this as a slice-of-life poem, but the number three brings up allusions: three fates, three witches, and the like. Not sure what you might do with that other than to press into that which the women bring to the table…?

This is Terry, btw.

[FranktheFrank]

But why make it a puzzle, Billy. It's a good poem.
Why not say Nan for mother-in-law, or name her so we know.

In Welsh we would say Nain, so everyone would know.
But you can use American speke if you like
It just helps the reader concentrate on the poem.