Lillian pines for Eugene’s laugh.
She tells the gals
the single life
has its advantages.
Still, she cooks for two.
Collards, mustard greens.
Boiled, strained. What’s left
could stock a soup or thicken gravy.
Lillian sips from a blue-chipped cup.
In dreams she looks into an owl’s nest
and finds Eugene held
in twigs and muddy feathers.
His eyes big as eggs,
mouth always open.