Stella wasn’t young anymore,
but you could tell she’d been
a real beauty back in her day.
She was also tough as nails.
Ain’t nobody talking back to
that woman! I’d seen her fury
first-hand when a foul-mouthed
drunk decided to push a woman.
Lordy, Stella charged at him with
the ferocity of a long-horned bull.
Put his back against the wall.
As a regular at Caddy’s, I’d stop
in for a beer at the end of a long
haul, my trucking time taking a toll
on my limbs. And there she’d be,
Stella, black tank, lotus tattoo
on the back of her lean shoulder,
wiping the bar with a white rag,
shooting the bull with patrons,
pulling those taps like a champ.
I asked her one day why she did it—
why, after all these years, she wanted
to put up with roughnecks and drunks
and young punks like me. She’d thrown
her head back and laughed, said since
she’d never been able to have children,
she figured she’d plant herself in the one
place where everyone needed a mother.
Arvilla Fee lives in Dayton, Ohio with her husband, three of her five children, and two dogs. She teaches for Clark State College, is the lead poetry editor for October Hill Magazine, and has been published in over 100 magazines. Her three poetry books, The Human Side, This is Life, and Mosaic: A Million Little Pieces are available on Amazon. Arvilla’s life advice: Never travel without snacks. Visit her website and her new magazine: https://soulpoetry7.com/
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