[Critique Group 1] Subjission for November 30 Critique Session

[Marilyn Smith]

Roger: The Early Years
A Sestina by Marilyn Brandt Smith

As a child I lived down in the country,
We lived about a half a mile from church.
Our house was much too small to hold five sisters
And two brothers, but somehow, we all stayed close.
The thing we liked to do the most was sing,
The next best thing was definitely to eat.

My mother grew the food we had to eat,
We always killed a hog down in the country,
We'd pick the chickens, stand around and sing,
Couldn't work on Sunday, that was church.
My twin sister and I were very close,
She was the youngest one of all the sisters.

Imagine just two brothers among those sisters,
'Cause we were boys, we earned a bit more to eat;
We were down a gravel road, no one lived close,
That's how it was in Kentucky tobacco country.
The only place to walk to was the church,
I learned to play the piano when we'd sing.

My twin and I went to other towns to sing,
Two gospel groups grabbed two more of my sisters.
My uncle drove us around from church to church,
Of course they gave us lots of stuff to eat.
My twin's boyfriend went to a foreign country,
To fight a war; they wrote so they'd stay close.

Making both ends meet just got too close
For comfort, and they didn't pay us to sing;
It was too late to make a living in farm country.
We sold milk to Pet dairy, and all my sisters
Had to get up early so they could eat
And milk before time for school or church.

Our mama got a job cleaning the church,
Daddy worked in town, which wasn't close;
We had more money, got more food to eat,
Bought a few more records to help us sing.
Husbands finally captured all my sisters,
My brother and I found jobs and left the country.

I'm glad I grew up in the country and the church;
My sisters still live there, and we're still close;
We sing our hearts out when we get together to eat.

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