Nancy Scott McBride’s most recent poem to appear here was “Haiku Sequence” (March 2019). 

The Tambourine
By Nancy Scott McBride

Is that a tambourine I saw in the back window of your car? my
neighbor asked when we met at the post office.

Why yes, I guess it is. I keep meaning,
and then forgetting, to take it to church.

Oh please don’t take it out of the car!

No? Why not?

It’s just that I haven’t seen one in years, and it looked so
odd and delightful in the window. Please let it stay.

Well, okay, I guess.

Is the tambourine still in your car? she asked a week later
as we stood in line at the grocery store.

Of course. You asked me not to move it, and I haven’t.

Thank you! A tambourine is such a happy thing, and in
these dark times, we need to see things that make us smile.

We do, and to be honest, I like the way it
does it’s thing when I go over a bump in the road.

Does its thing?

Yeah, you know, jingle-jangles.