Freeze Frame Old Missus Bea sang in her yard come sundown every evening, lived with a monkey, never went to the bank, a store or Sunday services. If she bathed, we didn't know it, we ten year olds who peeked through her hedge between art lessons and giggled. Her house was her fortress, the front weeds her dance floor, that monkey screeching from rooftop, her best friend and fan. When she died five years later they found cash stuck in books,  mattress, panties, fridge, along with a carefully framed photo of an olive-skinned beauty, monkey tucked under one arm, the sun igniting her eyes for that freeze frame in time when dreams still rose hot from the horizon. Pris Campbell ©2007 Art: Self-portrait with monkey       Frida Kahlo Return to Poetry Index II Return to Homepage