Uses for Bedrooms

I can see her, chewing gum
and smoking Lucky Strikes
that she’d steal from her
dad’s carton

Cracking bubbles
and blowing donuts,
she would stand naked
in front of my mirror
while teasing her beehive’s
side curls with an occasional
shake of her ass to get my attention

Lying on my back,
I witnessed this ongoing ritual
throughout that one special summer

Turning to face me,
she would crawl on top
so I wouldn’t make a mess of her hair

I was terribly frightened
of the Aqua Net infested beehive

Richard D. Houff,  currently lives and writes out of St. Paul, Minnesota. He has had poetry and prose published in Abraxas, Brooklyn Review, Cape Rock, Louisiana Review, Midwest Quarterly, Nexus, Osiris, Trailer Park Quarterly, Wisconsin Review, and many other fine magazines. His most recent collections are Night Watch and Other Hometown Favorites, The Wonderful Farm and Other Gone Poems, and Dancing on Rooftops.