Approx. 16 & already u worked for law. No high school 4 girls f. belong in pencil skirts & hose. U stand stiff & lanky, cig tipped fr. pink lips. @ work u typewrite dict. Viz. ur boss whispers in ur ear. Viz. whiskey lingers on his breath. Cf 3 yrs. later. Husband. Baby on hip. NB there is no happiness when ur credit is controlled by a m. =ity a dream. Q. did the sun shine the same? A. there is no son anymore. This sep. no longer a prob. Wrt. u I long to join matching plots w/ snakes coiling marble, trees pierced w/rays. Ustand, s/t is broken. S/t impt. I can’t shake.
Melinda Ruth has poems published or forthcoming in journals such as: South Carolina Review, Hawai’i Pacific Review, Southern Indiana Review, and more. Her chapbook, A Name Among Bone, was the winner of the 2021 Cow Creek Chapbook Prize and was also listed as a semi-finalist in the Spring 2020 Black River Chapbook Contest.