across the widest smile
by Dave S.
she misplaced her last wig
for the last time
the day before
and had her remaining hairs styled.
she needed very little encouragement now
to convince her of her bare and honest beauty;
because curls are curls and pretty is pretty
and compliments from strangers are always welcome.
But curls and compliments won't keep
the heat from the sun from her skin,
so he offered her his baseball cap
with its tractor trailer logo and its velcro tabs pulling it
to a frail pucker as cool and cheeky
as the kiss she offered in return.
And the sun bounced excitedly then
from my brother's bare head
into the bluest eyes
and across the widest smile
my mother's face could hold.
*** Dave S. is a Victoria poet who chronicled his mother's Alzheimer's.
