Paulette Kay Jiles (aka Paulette K. Jiles, Paulette Jiles-Johnson), born April 4, 1943, is an American poet, memoirist, and novelist.
PAPER MATCHES
Paulette Jiles
My aunts washed dishes while the uncles
squirted each other on the lawn with
garden hoses. Why are we in here,
I said, and they are out there.
That’s the way it is,
said Aunt Hetty, the shrivelled-up one.
I have the rages that small animals have,
being small, being animal.
Written on me was a message,
“At Your Service” like a book of
paper matches. One by one we were
taken out and struck.
We come bearing supper,
our heads on fire.