over the back fence

my mother
liked to gossip over
the back fence
while hanging laundry
on the line
with her friends Jolene
and Linda,
or on the phone
to far away lands
like Philadelphia
where Gloria and Delores
resided.
it wasn't malicious or
mean,
but just good fun
with no harm intended.
that can't be her
real hair
color, she'd say.
I've never seen a red like that
in nature,
have you?
or what about Francine,
I heard
she went to Miami,
by herself!
for a short vacation.
what divorced woman
does that? travelling
alone, oh my.
and bill, next door,
the lonely married man,
how many cups
of sugar does one man
need to borrow in
a week?
he always tries to sit
next to me in church
when his wife isn't with
him.