Sunday, July 22, 2012

What I Will Never Say to the Other Woman

You slept with my husband
under family photos,
rested on sheets
that held
my dreams,
laughed into glasses -
fogging rims
that were never meant
for your lips.

Moving into my house,
I bet you did not know
that those clay fish
small, smaller, smallest.
were named for each
one of my girls
or that the pink
metal bucket
hanging
on the outside wall
is filled with shells
and driftwood biscuits
handed to me
one find at a time,
by hands
that I love.

Sometimes I wonder how
you can you allow
your feet
to touch the butterfly rug,
the one I hauled home
one year
from TJMAXX
for $53.99. 

Isn’t it  odd,
that I know
the history of
your rug but you
don’t have a clue?

But I guess 
this does not
bother you much
You did, after all,
plant yourself
in a nest
I lined
with
trust.

Does it echo still,
I wonder?
With hushed voices -
my girls
giggling
into warm summer nights
over boys
they saw
on the boardwalk?

Do you ever try
to wipe away
my fingerprints
that linger
on each handle,
counter top, and wall.
Do you try  to
paint over 
my handiwork
only to have it 
bleed through?

You should learn that
some things
are indelible,
everlasting.

My advice to you is to
go to the beach. 
Bury your face in
romance novels
and bask
in your triumphs
under a sun
that you can
never own.
  
Now, I will tell
you something
that might disappoint you 
You did not hurt me
by taking away
what once was mine
He has that honor 
all to himself

You  could never
be that significant
to me


You hurt me only
as humanity
in general
is apt to do,
by failing 
to do the right thing.

But now, I am
all the lighter for it
and in claiming
my old prize,
you already have
what you deserve

 

10 comments:

  1. that was beautiful
    ... traded gold for tin

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awesome poetry! Love it, love it, love it...

    (of course, this is what my ex hoped to achieve: forcing me to flee the farm, abandoning it to him & his paramour. I still debate myself as to whether obstructing his wishes was the best thing in the long run; I've earned his everlasting emnity in my obstinate desire to "keep what was mine" - the property, not him! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I earned that too, without even putting up a fight. Good for you! I enjoyed reading about your last ride and do hope you mend quickly.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Wonderfully said. Absolutely wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  5. That is beautiful, so true and so wise... I missed you.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Did you just repost this? It showed up on my feed I almost choked on my sandwich rushing to the keyboard to get to you before you disappeared again. Please don' t I always check to see if you posted. What have you been doing and how the hell are you? Please email me

    ReplyDelete
  7. ha I saw your post on Denise's blog....how are you ? please write something on your blog.....suz

    ReplyDelete