by Bill Ratner
I hang my jacket in the hallway
her apartment is old
made from shoestring potatoes
it smells like a jelly factory.
Against the wall a man’s face
eyes folded
laces around his neck.
That’s your Uncle, dear.
He barred her
from doing much of anything
when he was around
then he died.
She asked the doctors
to keep his eyes and brain
alive and put them
in a fish tank.
That night when she got home
she put on a mambo record,
poured herself a vodka, lit a cigarette,
and blew smoke in his eyes.
The tank is down the hall
full of algae and bubbles.
She has it hidden
behind a curtain.
On the wall are photos
of President Gerald Ford,
our family on vacation,
and antique pictures of naked ladies.
How many naked ladies do have to look at
before I get something to eat? I ask.
I’ll think about it, she says.
Behind the curtain skirts are hung up,
sponges tied together,
a bag of teeth.
My Auntie takes a photo of me
so my parents will see
the child they raised,
buzz-cut, roadworthy.
My Auntie tells me stories
about my family,
takes me shopping,
for sweaters and sneakers.
When she gets excited
she makes the sound
of a happy seagull
and spins like a mooring buoy.
Bill Ratner is a 9-time winner of The Moth StorySLAM and a well-known voice actor—”Flint” in the TV cartoon G.I. Joe, “Donnell Udina” in the game Mass Effect, etc. His poetry and essays are published in Best Small Fictions 2021-Sonder Press, poetry collections: Lamenting While Doing Laps in the Lake-Slow Lightning Press, Fear of Fish-Alien Buddha Press, chapbook: To Decorate a Casket-Finishing Line Press, Chiron Review, Baltimore Review, Missouri Review Audio, FeminineCollective, and other journals. Bill’s readings are featured on National Public Radio’s Good Food and The Business. He is the author of Parenting for the Digital Age: The Truth About Media’s Effect on Children from Familius Books, a volunteer grief counsellor, and he teaches Storytelling for the Los Angeles School District, and Voiceover for the Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA Foundation.