mom was on "password" once

i saw a rerun of the program
the other day
on the game show channel

peter lawford
kept feeding her
bad clues

he looked at her
condescendingly
but i suspect
she was too entranced
by his bushy eyebrows
and **** smile
to even notice

i didn't really like
his smirk
when she kept guessing wrong
and then
when his clue was "passion"
she giggled

he winced

i laughed out loud
sitting there
in my disheveled living room
rain pounding
on the awning
the dog asleep
on my lap
magazines piled high
at my feet
my mother's laughter
lighting the room
like a lovely luminous ghost