by F.X. Baird

Rags and Dolls 

Our daughter rips old shirts into rags 

at her mother’s request; busy work. 

You would never know this woman 

was a wild thing, danced nights into 

days, now poster mom of completed  

tasks, keeping mortality at bay; or the 

virus. It could be something more 

mundane, time to think or feel. We  

are using the pandemic to begin death  

cleaning the house, save the children  

from sorting through attic memories.  

Stepping over a boundary, there since  

our daughter’s childhood, she asks,  

(oh, no), “What about the Barbies?” 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

F. X. (Fran) Baird was born in Philadelphia. He studied with David Ignatow at the 92nd Street Y in New York City in the early 80’s, and with Cathy Smith Bowers, John Drury and Jamey Dunham at the Antioch Writers’ Workshop in Yellow Springs, Ohio. He is a member of the Osage Street Poets who study with Leonard Gontarek. His poetry has appeared in the Schuylkill Valley Journal, Moonstone Arts, and Philadelphia Stories. His first chapbook, Painting with my Father, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2019. (https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/painting-with-my-father-by-fran-baird/)