Steven Ray Smith<\/strong><\/p> Steven Ray Smith<\/strong><\/p> \/\/\/ Freedom from want Steven Ray Smith In this freedom from want there is not a turkey and not an apron bowing before a cocked father retrieving his prestige, the carving set. There is not a grey bun and bobby pins making way for his magic upon her make-ready. There are not children fitful with hunger, … <\/p>\n
\n\n\n\n
In this freedom from want
\nthere is not a turkey
\nand not an apron
\nbowing before a cocked
\nfather retrieving his prestige,
\nthe carving set.\n
\nThere is not a grey bun and bobby pins making way
\nfor his magic upon her make-ready.
\nThere are not children
\nfitful with hunger,
\nstarched like dad,
\nfitful with convenience
\nand surveying the laughter while she
\nremains spackled in gravy.\n
\nIn this version, she is hungry too.
\nHe is still suited but seated.
\nShe has likewise roasted but there is a humorous part
\nand all around await her punchline.
\n\n\n\nAccent wall<\/em><\/strong><\/h2>
\n\n\n\n
He told me a blue joke
\njust minutes ago, a risky joke
\none only tells to a most trusted
\nfriend. And she gave me half
\nher chicken-salad wrap, because she knows
\nI don\u2019t mind her cooties.
\nMy buddy there simply nods
\nevery time he sees me, as if we are thinking the same
\nthought, as if our accord is that firm.
\nAll ten regard me like that.
\n
\nAround the table, the ten-seat table
\nin the corner room, they only know
\neach other.
\n
\nAnd now they are all laughing
\nat some private understanding.
\nI try to finish answering a question
\none of them asked me in the hall, but
\nfrom the table her tickled eyes glance past me,
\nas if my navy blazer were some vague shadow
\nagainst the cadet-blue accent wall,
\n
\none of the many dark and uniform partitions
\nthat give our corridor
\nits semblance of latitude.
\n\n\n\n
Steven Ray Smith’s poetry has appeared in Slice, The Yale Review, Southwest Review, The Kenyon Review, Barrow Street, New Madrid, Tar River Poetry, and others. New work is in North Dakota Quarterly, Guesthouse<\/a>, and Chaleur Magazine. His website is www.StevenRaySmith.org<\/a>. He lives in Austin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/oxmag\/files\/2020\/06\/42tan.png\")
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