Museum Visit

On a visit
to the Franklin Institute
my brother and I
run ahead
of our parents
skipping up the steps
to wait at the heavy front doors.

We ask to go first
to our favorite exhibit—
The Giant Heart,
constructed
two stories tall,
big enough
to walk through.

We are thrilled to be in this space
reading signs,
exploring paths
of each chamber,
valve, and ventricle—
trying to imagine
the workings of our own hearts.

We touch veins
painted on the walls,
bulging red and purple.
We laugh nervously
hearing echoes
of lub-dub, lub-dub
as we crawl
through a giant artery
following the trail
blood flows
in our own tiny hearts.

*

Big Girl

After my mother taught me
how to make a bed with hospital corners,
by tucking the sheets just so,
I felt helpful.

After my mother showed me
how to flip a grilled cheese sandwich,
I thought I could cook.

After my mother handed me
a library card, I carried home
a pile of picture books,
I was happy

After my mother took me
to West Side Story for my 11th birthday,
I fell in love with show music.

After my mother and I,
wearing a dress
and patent leather shoes,
sat with my grandmother
at the Crystal Tea Room
on the 8th floor
of Wanamaker’s Department Store,
the largest dining room in Philadelphia,
decorated with huge chandeliers,
flowered tea cups
matching saucers,
I knew I was grown up.

*

Lois Perch Villemaire is the author of “My Eight Greats,” a family history in poetry and prose published in 2023. Her work has appeared in such places as Blue Mountain Review, Ekphrastic Review, One Art: A Journal of Poetry, Pen In Hand, Topical Poetry and an anthology entitled I Am My Father’s Daughter. She lives in Annapolis, MD.