Cavity in skull—
The tangle of wisteria tendrils
climbing on skyhooks outside
my window and the asymmetric
black and white bantam attack cat
twitching at birds on its branches
have this in common: either
would eat me if it could.
they were the same price
and stocked next to each other
baby blue balancing out a rose pink
if only her hand had moved slightly to the left
but she’d wanted one that would clean off easily
so she could swipe away the evidence
of her false beauty in seconds
but now with so many eyes on her
gaping at the black teardrops rolling down her face
she wished she’d taken the plunge
let her hand drift upwards
towards the far more popular option-
because of course everyone wants it to last
if it’s harder to clean off
it means it’s more a part of you
not something applied
right?
that’s why she’d grabbed so quickly
she wasn’t like those other girls
she didn’t need the promise of permanence
just the joy of a moment of enhancement
but these black smears
and the stares
was her choice the wrong choice?
if not for the dark ink in the cascade down her cheeks
no one would know
perhaps the bottle of waterproof mascara was right all along
if nothing else
it could have saved her
from this room full of pitying glances and looks of disgust
with it, her pain could of stayed hidden
but now it is on display for all to see
To
this
word nerd,
self-confessed,
the dictionary
is a bible, a Gideon,
that must grace each bedside table,
reside beside each
easy chair
and by
the
throne.
sitting under the gazebo on the benches,
we watch the families play
doe-ray-me
a mother lilts to her son
who sits idly in his stroller
a whole family crowded
on the swings
a dad bicycling
with his two children
in tow behind him
a gathering of teens playing
basketball & skate-boarding
their echoed laughs in our ears
as we walk back, through
the city, to our parked car
I watched my husband
stomp a mouse today.
I didn’t want to.
I meant to look away,
but it happened too fast,
and I witnessed the last
moment of a small life
there on the edge of the
hay field in the heat of day
when the sun heat beat
down on our backs.
