Issue 3:
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M. Anne Sweet
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Moving, 1996
Snow blocks the road.
My old dog stumbles down
powder white steps
using my leg for balance,
I, rail held and afraid,
my bad back
covered in sleet.
Icy nails remind me,
this house has private parts
written by another’s hand,
painted in wide brush strokes,
trimmed with lattice
and floral wall prints.
She has left her pain
in the thin air resting between tiles
where grout cracks away,
in small holes punched
by door knobs slammed against walls,
locked against her own healing,
left to me with unmarked keys
and sticky door jambs.
I close her open windows
against flies and the muscovy
that would roost in the downstairs bath.
I open and close her cupboard yawns,
make the bed,
take down the curtain
she used to haze the view.
A limb of flowering plum,
wet heavy with white,
breaks and falls
as I enter the drive.
It is mine now.
I feel its weight
tender the ground.
~M. Anne Sweet
Her work has appeared in numerous anthologies and journals both in print and online. She also presents Passion for Poetry, a popular reading series in the Puget Sound area. Email.
© 1999 by M. Anne Sweet. All Rights Reserved.
© 2000-2002 by Cayuse Press. All Rights Reserved.
This page updated April 23, 2002.