Pappa's Orange Vine
Cordial

pappa's orange vine
cordial towel-wrapped in
the jug for the free masons
meeting of the fraternity grown
tired of mint julep, pappa's trunk
lifted and the secret his daughter
kept in the nash rambler weighed
an ounce, ditch weed dried and sealed
in tupperware, pappa didn't think to look
inside, he took the tupperware in the house
and put it on the table, grabbed his free mason
14-carat gold insignia ring, splashed on a liberal
retro of old spice and headed back out the door,

gay twink
son and his
bear, hairy old
man come through
the backdoor...ungh -
a load of reel-to-reel black
and white porn and a six-pack
of Walter's beer, locked the doors
and pulled pappa's elk-print curtains,
bear wastes no time loading, twink hung
at three in the afternoon, I love lucy chimes
in at four, her and ethel sit down at the table,
lucy opens the tupperware, rolls more than her
eyes, ethel inhales and passes the joint to lucy
stoned to a sit-com, the reality of life and the writers
who bring it to screen, pappa's orange vine cordial in
the back of the nash rambler, a preacher ran a red light,
what in the name of sin?

Copyright Ms. Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist