Coupons

The cashier leans forward
to examine the expiration date.
Here's my mother's squinting face

in silent concentration and memory,
adding up my father's paychecks,
subtracting the bills,

scissors and newspaper close by,
my mother's thrifty face
as hard and bright as Formica.

Tim Skeen
The Southern Review
Volume 41, Number 4
Autumn 2005

Copyright © 2005 by Louisiana State University.
All rights reserved.
Reproduced by Poetry Daily with permission.

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