Stella Sue's Box of Toys
 
It's true –
she moved the box –
when her young husband
was away on his mission trip.
 
It might have been that hot
Kentucky day when the kids
were sweaty and cranky
and would just not settle
until, finally, late that night
they rested, still a little damp,
under thin sheets
and she could relax.
 
You fuck yourself
more than you fuck me
her husband says
when he returns,
 
and I want to say, Oh, no,
sister, you put him straight
on that right now, to tell her
he's lucky she knows how to love
herself, how to unwind,
how to not need a man,
how even in my fifties
in my own marriage
it's no big deal. But
 
what I say first
because I'm curious
because I can't help myself,
is who has a whole box?
 
What can possibly be in there?
What have I been missing?
 
 
Hayley Mitchell Haugen
Russell, KY

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