Marilla & Matthew

That old familiar feeling

of a come-home clean-shave



	smooth-stomach vibrations

of a nylon-stringed guitar,

	the tooth-chipped sound

of an untuned piano cackling away

at a family dinner and

the stale smell of an old bible

Mom always insists on reading

while we digest dinner

conversation.



Pushing aside half-truths in

cluttered attics,

Mom jokes about Dad going deaf,

Dad, about Mom going senile—

they laugh

and drink

and think about retirement.

© Peter Gibbon