Peggy Schimmelman

Issue No. 70, Autumn 2022

Ozark Supper on the Night Before Payday

By Peggy Schimmelman

There was never not something to eat

but sometimes what there was were

a couple of unlucky squirrels or

a hefty raccoon rolled in flour

and chicken-fried by my mom

who must’ve been pondering

her lot in life:

six kids bursting out

of their school clothes

another beneath her apron

(oh, how would she tell him?)

the fox who had bloodied

the henhouse again

and a roof with more leaks

than she had pans

to catch the drips

but she served up the critters

and without hesitation

we all dug in

because my slow-footed dad

could strike like a rattler

when it came to giving us

something to complain about

and anyway

as long as we had biscuits and gravy

and mashed potatoes

with sweet iced tea to wash it all down

what was there to whine about, really?

Peggy Schimmelman

Peggy Schimmelman grew up in the Missouri Ozarks and now lives and writes in Livermore, California. She is the author of two poetry chapbooks, Crazytown and Tick-Tock, along with the novels Whippoorwills and Insomniacs, Inc. Her work has appeared in North American Review, Boston Literary Magazine, Flash fiction Magazine, Haight Ashbury Journal, Pacific Review, Comstock Review, and other publications. She is co-author of two Wild Vine Writers’ anthologies.