tight as a drum

it was hard

to tell what her emotions were

as we sat in

PF Changs,

eating lettuce wraps.

her face was

solidified and smoothed

by the clever

hand of a surgeon,

the monthly

injections of Botox

piercing

the curve of lip,

the frown,

no longer was the skin

sagging around her eyes.

all of it was

tight as a drum.

she may have been forty,

or seventy,

who's to know these

things, but as we ate

and drank, i couldn't

decipher if she

was smiling, or 

about to cry?

i had to point out that

Chinese gravy

was dripping down her chin.