With slippered feet
they were side by side
on the deck
in black mesh
chairs in the morning
with mud masks
wearing towel wraps
on their torsos
and heads the
help having just hosed
they sat near
the wet garden
with a bungalow-style
home in the background
somewhere in
the Pacific Northwest
why would we want
to wait one asked
lit a cigarette
and grabbed a soda
can for her ashes
true the other said it does
make more sense to set things
straight now rather than
later debate it
in front of our men