Friday nights at my mother-in-law’s
I follow the exquisite nails
of my Armenian sister-in-law from Iran.
Pale blue sometimes like her mohair sweater,
or yellow, pushing back a strand of dark hair.
Burgundy on the white bread she raises
to her lips at the evening meal;
funky fuchsia under the water in the kitchen sink.
Five cool kiwis hold a glass of tea;
classic reds flirt with the tip of a cigarette.
Fingernails like castanets that click behind her words;
like sparks that fly beside her stories of Tehran.
Nails that give a shape to laughter,
come alive like drops of Jasmine,
who dyes T-shirts in America—
teal green, ruby red, juniper berry.
“Funky Fuchsia” was published in International Poetry Review
Lori Levy is the author of “In the Mood for Orange,” published in Israel in a bilingual English/Hebrew edition. Her poems have appeared in literary journals in the United States, England and Israel.
