Performance
for Pam
Don Ho was in the top ten with his catchy
tune about tiny bubbles.
We didn’t drink, but our four-year-old
daughter and I sang about wine
that would make you feel fine all over.
We used cooking spoons for microphones
and exaggerated the highs, the lows, and the slows
as if we were on Broadway with an audience.
The preacher from the First
Free Will Baptist Church down the road
laid a guilt trip on my husband
and me for not raising our children
with the proper foundation.
Sunday, true to our word, we were there.
I left our daughter in the kindergarten class,
and as I was turning to leave,
closing the door softly behind me, I heard
her bunned, bespectacled, and buttoned-
tight teacher asking, Does anyone
have a song they’d like to sing?