POEM: In Season

In Season

By Katrina Murphy

He had a pocketful of baling wire and fancy toothpicks,

and a seductive Lowcountry drawl.

He shagged all night, light and assured

in his worn boat shoes.

I acquainted his hands with the true small of my back

while he said I was pretty and a good dancer

and that his mama had been married so many times

he didn’t know her last name anymore.

Dark haired and smiling with his toothpaste-ad-teeth,

he was the epitome of a Southern gentleman,

selling expertly what he thought I couldn’t resist.

AUTHOR BIO:  Originally from Vidalia, Georgia, home of the world’s best onions, Katrina Murphy is a poet and baker living in Charleston, S.C.  Both of her English degrees are from Georgia Southern University, and she is active in Charleston alumni events and planning. She is the president of the Poetry Society of South Carolina, the oldest state poetry society in the country. After spending the last 12 years teaching English and composition at various colleges, she’s leaving the classroom to focus to her other love—baking. Her newest project is Once Upon a Treat Bakery, slated to open in September.