Aunt Flo

When I was a little girl,

I told people I had an Aunt Flo

And they would laugh and laugh?

I didn’t understand.




Her first name was Mary,

But everyone called her Flo.

After her middle name, Florine.

Flo, Nellie, and John

Grew up in Louisiana,

Farming potatoes to eat and live,

Their mother made their clothes.




On Sundays, they went to church.

That white clapboard church

With no air conditioning

But lots of singing.




Flo had a child.

But Flo didn’t get married.




She lived in a trailer.

She used crutches because of the polio

She had as a child.




Flo’s daughter had no father,

For he was married to another woman.




They called her a whore.

Shunned her.




But on those hot summer days,

We would sit in the shade and read

Her romance novels.




Flo taught me about love,

But she also taught me

About the church

And how they turn on you

When you do not fit the mold.