Sunbonnets

By John I. Blair

It’s an old photograph by now,
Wrinkled around the rim,
The kind with deckled edges
And a checked border.

In the photo three young women,
Thick-ankled, wide-hipped, sturdy,
Stand in a grain wagon,
Scooping wheat with big shovels.

In those days much farm work
Still was done by hand
And all hands were needed
To bring the harvest in.

They’re my aunts Lela, Esther, Mildred;
Married, housewives, mothers,
Keepers of civilization’s flame
On the rough Oklahoma plains.

In the blazing heat, the dusty air,
Each wears a flowered sunbonnet,
The ribboned bands
Tied neatly beneath her chin.

©2003 John I. Blair