The Face That Came To Visit

When I was a young boy

Dad always sat across from me

at the dinner table.

Mom was to my right, and

Sis was to my left.

It was mostly

during supper time

when I had a compulsion

to distort my face.

Pretending to drop my napkin,

I would pucker my lips and

rotate them counterclockwise

as I reached for my napkin

under the table.

My eyes would squint 

as my lips seemed to bump into my nose, 

and then stopped when it reached my chin

on the way down.

As I headed for the surface of the table

I would attempt to get

in as many rotations as possible.

There was a limit

on how many times I could accidentally

drop my fork, spoon, or napkin on the floor.

My parents had already warned me  

of the danger of my face getting “stuck”

if I didn’t stop it!

In spite of that,  

the facial expressions continued.

Whenever the opportunity arose,

Sis would make Mother aware,

“Mom, he’s making another face!”

I'm sure she was looking out for me,

fearing that my face would become

unalterably twisted

and having to admit,

she had an ugly brother.

In time the face

that was stuck on visiting me

showed up no longer.

Amazingly, I rarely dropped

another fork, spoon, or napkin again…