Two shorts: The young girl and the matriarch

1.
The young girl
Who resembled the tacky woman
In the phillumi poster
Worked so hard
On the streets

That one sultry night
The tacky woman from the poster
Stepped out
Offered a marijuana leaf to chew
And told the young girl
Take it easy, yaar



2.
The matriarch
Who gave birth to 16 high pedigreed sons
Lay on her death-bed

She
Hoped her 17th son
Who the village elders said
Measured his own shadow
Predicted earthquakes and floods and droughts
Would sit by her side
Hold her mangled hand
And prevent
An inevitable death