ellie

It’s my pal, ellie’s birthday
and she’s too busy, closing
Yellow Pages ads, to take
a phone call. She's a sales
person you completely trust as
she would not waste your time
or hers simply to make money.
She sells what she believes in,
is proud of the fact that she
can make customers think
about why they should invest
in what she has to sell. She’s
smart, has always been smart,
knows it, isn’t afraid to talk to
anyone about anything. She
will ask any question without
worry. She watches and listens
as she notices the nuances of
people, of their relationships
with one another. This stuff
feeds her soul. I always
lean on her when I need
wisdom. For decades,
when I was single, and
met someone new, I would
call her in Florida to share
my big news. She always
asked me the same thing.
It was muy importante,
yet, I might fail to notice,
right off the bat, if there were
other pulling forces. She’d
listen to me tell her how funny,
how attractive, how romantic
he was. Then she’d make me
wait, while she took a long
drag off of her cigarette,
exhaled and asked, “So,
is his head in a good place?”
el dropped those eight
words over and over
till I got it right.