you have beautiful hair by Justin Hyde

aunt marcine
runs a liver-spotted hand
through it.

so thick,
aunt karen coos
tousling it out of place.

this happened
at my other family reunion
in june.

aunt deb
said i was sexy

apologized
for making me blush.

full grown,
jan said
running her palm
up and down my back
a very long time.

at thirty-eight
i've crossed a rubicon

handsome
and manly
to octogenarians.

the twenty year olds
flashing across my radar
like migs

consider me avuncular
if they consider me at all.

so curly,
aunt connie wheezes

leaning way out
over her walker.



Justin Hyde's books and other poems can be found here: http://poets.nyq.org/poet/justinhyde.