by Marjorie Power
Behind
Behind the man’s
everyday invisible mask
a second mask faces inward.
It resembles the first
but has no flex.
He stands
at a bathroom mirror,
peers through eye holes
while shaving for date night.
The behindmask’s rigidity
makes him proud of his
jaw, its natural jut.
In front of a mirror
and behind two masks
a woman coats her lashes
with careful strokes.
She’s thankful for
eye holes neatly edged –
knows The Truth
when she sees it.
And farther behind:
a broken latch, swollen door, moldy cellar.
Matricide, cordoned off.
A ballot, ready to mail.
Amnesia.
Packet from a Lost Century
Again the old man
unties the green string
pores over each
handwritten letter
as would a savage
the fluent limbs
of his best enemy.
Marjorie Power’s poetry collection, Seven Parts Woman, was published in September, 2016 by WordTech Editions. Her poems also appear in six chapbooks and one other full length collection, all from small presses. Many journals and anthologies include her work: The Cape Rock, Pinyon, Main Street Rag, Slant, Trajectory, The Practice of Peace, The Random House Treasury of Light Verse, and others. She lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband, after many years in the Northwest.
Advertisements
