Jane Blanchard

Magnolia, Double-Matted, Framed
     signed B. Long

I recollected it too favorably
When asking for parental property.

I knew the print was far from precious, but
My mother’s purchase at the local mall
Long seemed a huge improvement over what
Hung previously upon a paneled wall.

(That had been purchased by my father when
He and my mother were just married and
Preparing for his life in medicine
Which seldom let her have a say or stand.)

I sat beneath it time and time again
Yet never noticed any artist’s scrawl
Until removal from a musty den
Meant storage in a closet off a hall.

A native Virginian, Jane Blanchard lives and writes in Georgia. Her latest collection with Kelsay Books is Metes and Bounds (2023).