Catherine Pritchard Childress
She also plans to attend graduate school. Catherine is a Midway Honors Scholar and a member of Sigma Tau Delta Internatiional English Honor Society. Her poetry is forthcoming in Connecticut Review.
Catherine was raised in the mountains of Western North Carolina. She lives with her husband and three children in Roan Mountain, TN.
Elegy for June Cleaver
by Catherine Pritchard Childress
It took only thirty minutes, once each week
for you to set the bar I try to hurdle but
limbo at best, finding how low I can go.
If not for you, he would never expect a kiss
and cold drink at the door, instead of
a juice-box and crying child.
You taught them that six p.m. brings meatloaf,
mashed potatoes, bread from scratch. A lesson
I un-teach with cardboard boxes of pizza.
Thanks to you, the woman of my husband's dreams,
he thinks he married Rosanne.
Patiently, you nurtured Wally and The Beaver,
hosted play-dates for boys with funny names,
like the ones I call my own boys behind their backs,
over the wrinkled laundry that I won't iron.
Finally you can get some rest
In a hard-wood box, polished lemon fresh.
Kick off your heels, while I kick up mine.
Shed those pearls. Lose the lipstick, but be sure
Not to leave your apron behind.
THERE'S MORE:
"Limits" by Matt Fowler
