...Great-Grandpa Bill’s Toilette, 1935...

Great-Grandpa Bill’s Toilette, 1935

Great-grandpa Bill shaved with a straight razor
every Midwestern morn,
smoldering Camel on his lip,
mug of piping hot coffee
and an ice-cold bottle o’ beer
plunked clink on the sink before him.

Up and down
ran the clean-stropped blade,
blithe and bright and brisk.
Up and down
went the morning’s drink,
sip and clunk and swig and clink,
and an ash flicked into the drain.

With a wink at the misted glass
he relished the reek
of dull hops, dark bean, burnt leaf
as he shaved and smoked,
and sipped and drank,

whistling,
as steel scraped over the jugular.

Contributor: Rafeeq O. McGiveron