Miss Oregon 1946

Miss Oregon 1946 buys groceries at Ralphs,
		flirts with me, presses hard
into cantaloupes
shakes watermelons
sniffs bananas, says
		they pick these darn things too green,
		before the sugars sweeten
		call me snobbish, but I won't buy green bananas!

		She married a white corn farmer
			sixty years ago, she loved
			how he would rise at 4AM
			join brown skinned hands
& touch corn stalks like anointing the feet of Jesus.  Together
they ship food to starved children
			we feel sorry for on television.  They never
			watch television.

			He has Alzheimer's.
		She has a smile 

		begging admiration.  I imagine
how she cart-wheeled into frat boy hearts
		as an Oregon State Cheerleader
		atop the pyramid,
decades of folded skin smooth again, the Miss Congeniality smile
		that impressed her judges
		that captivated her husband.  I imagine
long auburn hair
curled precisely
		for all those foolish boys to gawk at.

		She continues
		to grow white corn, & tend
		to her husband.  She is a stranger
		some days.
			Though he always smiles at pretty ladies
			he can not remember
			how much he loves her,
		so she remembers
			for him.