Feb 26, 2020
i checked the widow box today
another milestone in the books
like the restored antique car found
languishing on a Georgia farm
a tree growing through its floorboards
or the unmolested original, not
a trailer queen, but a well-mannered
good-driving survivor
could i be one of those?
i miss fingering his fine silky hair
stroking his palm with my index finger
the tilt of his head as he reached for me
like that dog who carries a marrow-rich
bone he drops in pursuit of a giant
shadow version reflected in the lake
i’m near drowning
i cling to funhouse mirror distortions
an Elizabethan purge of bush-hogging
get brazilian waxes and shave
a hollow home in empty slippers
Elizabeth Robin, a retired high school teacher, has two collections of poetry through Finishing Line Press: Where Green Meets Blue (2018) and Silk Purses and Lemonade (2017). A poet of witness and discovery, she relates both true and fictional stories about her Lowcountry present and world-traveling past. Also published in fiction and nonfiction, her work appears most recently in The Fourth River, Foliate Oak, Blue Mountain Review, Good Juju, and Reflections.