Tonight's Poet Corner: Stepfather

Stepfather
by Belinda Roddie

Stepfather
had the heart
to buy me
a birthday present

wrapped up in gold foil
with a bright pink bow.

Opened it up
and I found it was a relic
from a little village
in the Cajun swamps.

He told me not to worry
that it wasn't cursed or voodoo
just a
little something a friend bought
from a souvenir store.

The talisman was something special
and I hung it up right where
I kept a picture of my daddy
dressed in his best brown suit
with his arm around my mother
smiling primly,
pink lipstick on her face.

It gleams
purple dreams
right across from my bedroom window
where the portrait of me
and my stepfather
catches the light of the Harvard sun.