Crow's Feet

Rylee Joy Kellner; granddaughter

Crow’s Feet

“Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.”
--Mark Twain

Smiling
can be that moment
when the face ignites with mirth,
when eyes shine, teeth sparkle,
when the imp peers over the lip--
yet there is so much more going on
at the flesh corners of that mouth;
a sumptuous cavalcade of emotion
portraying conceit, anxiety, fear, anger,
grimace, snarling, submission, hubris,
or the pouty prelude to a kiss, or a bite
and the aftermath.

Please do not flash the botox, flight attendant,
counter girl, shoe salesman, cover model
fake smile at me, for the sparkle is absent
and the heart is otherwise engaged;
it only produces a burn in my chest
as another counterfeit moment
is piled onto a tower of insincerity
creating a sad landscape of lies.

Just give me the genuine Duchenne moment
when the zygomatic muscles work in beautiful tandem
with the obicular oculi and your gorgeous eyes sparkle,
for that touches me, and we all need to be touched
in order to fully counteract all that negative energy
that lurks larger every day.

My seven week old granddaughter smiled
at me yesterday, and the glow is still captive,
like a firefly in a bell jar.

Glenn Buttkus

April 2011

Listed as #31 over on Magpie Tales 61

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