24709 Harmon

by R.H. DeVault

Helen washes her hair
with rain water.
A brunette cascade
throws diamonds through
the air.

Her startling doe eyes
sparkle copper
She is ten if she is a day
but a very old ten.

Her mother saves loose
string, crooked
Bobby pins, wooden spools
Helen adopts this.

Even at eighty-five
she is ten.
She will keep the stockings
with the run

In the right calf and mark
them “wear with slacks”
She will collect 100 bread
ties, but only

Until she finds more.
Every can,
every bottle gets returned
for a dime.

Ten cents is $1.85 in 1929.