Current :: M
When One Door Closes
"The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep." —Rumi
You are naked when they storm the door;
I engage in some futile struggle to cover you,
a profane virgin in the temple
of Vesta. I needn’t have bothered.
They brought the sheet—white cotton,
meager thread count, standard size for beds
and bodies. I make of that cloth
a sail, set you to sea like a lauded chieftain
on a Norse boat, but ships do not sink
in desert dunes. I give you to strangers
instead, transfixed until the van’s metal aperture
slams shut on your story, my sagacity.
Failed provider, I have left you in the cold
with the thinnest of fabrics, no coin
in your mouth. The entry to our home remains
ajar for days, a broken yew strewn across
the threshold. When that passageway closes,
I am traitor, treasonist wife who deadbolts
the door against a husband unfaithful
enough to die. Harbored in my hand, your band
of gold, their archeological find. I swallow
the ring; it cuts through the larynx gone
tight in my throat, and in my stomach
it turns round, full, and open.
M is an Administrator for Wild Poetry Forum. You can find her there daily, tending to Wild's membership, giving out probably unwanted advice, and trying her best to steward the ship through sometimes stormy seas. Her work has appeared in a variety of Internet e-zines—Pedestal, Gumball Poetry Journal, three candles, 3rd Muse Poetry Journal, Poems Niederngasse, Eclectica Magazine, and others—and has received a Pushcart nomination. Her work is currently featured in the Poets Gone Wild anthology, produced by Wild Poetry Press and available at Lulu . She has also served as an Associate Editor for Stirring: A Literary Collection for the past seven years.
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Copyright 1999-2012 M.