The Monumental Bust of Lieutenant Colonel Staley

Mrs. Lt. Col. Staley followed arrows

in the commissary aisles, armed 

with her husband’s typed grocery list

replete with specific brands and weights.

Pregnant in Panama

while he was serving in Thailand

an art class for the wives 

and when the directions were 

don’t just look at your husband’s face; sculpt it! 

She asked for more instructions 

and for once there were none.

Creative license allowed her 

to remove the mole, to lengthen the hair.

Cosmetic surgery via swipe 

of a broken credit card

wattle thinned with a slash of wire.

He left the war in time to see

the ease in which she hollowed out his head

before carrying him to the oven.