The Tidy Family Composition

              The Tidy Family Composition

Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem 

We see him in his 1950s suit.

Beside him sits the alien he wed;

Her hairstyle would turn E.T. dumb and mute.

Of course, this husband did not know her head

Would flip to sausage curl shapes when he pledged

His vows with her.   She smiles because she got him

And she brought him to her sheets before he fledged

Those Hitler whiskers on his lip. a whim

Sons never understood.  The boys are best

Of beauty in the touched-up colors scene.

You never could predict how Woodrow’s quest

Could cause a portrait made of velveteen.

  But then the 1950s wanted that

    In softnesses imposed as precious, flat.

Phillip Whidden