One Thanksgiving my sister makes a concoction
called Splendour in the Blender,
consisting of vodka, lemonade,
and cubes of ice.
Elderly aunts lap it up, cats with cream,
begin to lean against doors, eyes unfocused.
In soft voices, they fence, these Furies,
parry, thrust, scratch. out each other’s eyes,
Things were said that day that meant
the next family gathering
was ten years later.
And that was at a funeral.
Susan Castillo Street is a Louisiana expatriate and academic who lives in the Sussex countryside. She is Harriet Beecher Stowe Professor Emeritus, King’s College, University of London, and has published two collections of poems, The Candlewoman’s Trade (Diehard Press, 2003) and Abiding Chemistry, (Aldrich Press, 2015). Her poems have appeared in The Missing Slate, The Stare’s Nest, Nutshells and Nuggets, I Am Not a Silent Poet, Snakeskin, Message in a Bottle, Literature Today, York Mix and other reviews. She is a member of three poetry groups: 52, Goat, and Slant 2015.
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