Washing Dishes at the Nursing Home, 1977

Sixteen. Hot as hell. Standing at the sink piled high with melamine dishes, sudsy clouds in scalding water, steam billowing, sweat flowing, cook screaming scrub faster, tears streaming. Oh, how I hate the tattooed tyrant, knife-wielding prince-of-prick, this tiny man who made a hard job harder, who chipped away at my desire to serve sweet Emma Mae, who, at 99, rocked her baby doll as if a new mother, Mr. Martin, the handsome gentleman with mahogany skin and azure eyes who was trying his best to die that day, and young Danny, bringer of bear hugs—the staff called him Mongoloid, I called him friend. Life of the lobby, emcee of the dining hall, I never knew—why was he there? A first job sticks with you like a pink and pearly scar.

Ann Weil’s poetry appears in Best New Poets 2024, Pedestal Magazine, Inflectionist Review, RHINO, Chestnut Review, DMQ Review, Maudlin House, 3Elements Review, and elsewhere. Weil is the author of Lifecycle of a Beautiful Woman (Yellow Arrow Publishing, 2023) and Blue Dog Road Trip (Gnashing Teeth Publishing, 2024). A four-time Pushcart nominee, Weil lives with her husband in Ann Arbor and Palm Springs.

A Song for Ann