Four Poems

 

by Amanda Laughtland

 

 

 

No Laughing Matter

 

 

After college everybody said she'd marry

in no time, but the whispered story

 

of her trouble made the rounds

as it always does.  It simply

 

ruined her socially.  This is exactly

what halitosis does to many a woman

 

without her even realizing it.

 

 

 

 

In New England

 

 

Baked beans soak the night over

for Saturday supper and return

 

at Sunday breakfast, lavished

on fresh bread.  Every summer

 

begins with a pot of clam chowder.

Everyone's lives are the lives

 

of former first ladies, not crowded

with knick-knacks like ours.

 

 

 

 

Try Making Peanut Butter at Home

 

 

It's not too hard.  Roast shelled peanuts.

Slip off skins.  Grind peanuts

 

in your meat grinder until you find

the desired fineness.  Add salt.

 

Add peanut or vegetable oil.

Stir thoroughly, but don't expect

 

as creamy and smooth a butter

as your grocer sells in jars.

 

 

 

 

Faux Gazebo

 

 

Everyone wants a shady spot

on your new deck, a trick

 

made possible when friends

hang a trellis in the twenty minutes

 

it takes for pizza to arrive.

 

 

 



E·ratio · Laughtland.pdf