Deprecated: mb_convert_encoding(): Handling HTML entities via mbstring is deprecated; use htmlspecialchars, htmlentities, or mb_encode_numericentity/mb_decode_numericentity instead in /var/www/html/wp-content/plugins/super-cool-ad-inserter/inc/scaip-shortcode-inserter.php on line 37

Aunt Rosie descends the Rialto steps

(a good mile)

to East Ohio Street,

walks River Avenue

to Lutz & Schramm

where she packs pickles.

Round trip

five days a week.

in spite of legs bowed

from rickets,

Saturday nights

Rosie performs polka steps

Heel and toe, hop and go

on the dance floor

at the Croatian Club.

We can’t keep up with her.

Shirley Stevens is a members of The Squirrel Hill Poetry Workshop and The Pittsburgh Poetry Society. Her poetry has been published in Poet Lore, Common Wealth>, and the </i>Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She lives in Avalon. Many writers featured in Chapter & Verse are guests of Prosody, produced by Jan Beatty and Ellen Wadey. Prosody airs every Tuesday at 7 p.m. on independent radio, WYEP 91.3 FM.