I lean into my broom and stare out the window,
watch the setting sun’s slow, honeyed
rhythm. When she labors, who will loosen
her braid? Who will speak the words to smooth the knot in her brow? Worn down with worry,
I wonder, When did I become so like them —
those sad women hollowed out. Who will light the myrhh, wormwood and garlic to soften the womb’s mouth? My view,
unbroken, I remember the field of poppies
gone to seed and bleeding. I see, now, these
dark openings. How each flower
is a reckoning, a possibility. All the ways
this world designed to take her from me.
— Sarah McKinstry Brown
This Bright Darkness Sarah Mckinstry-Brown Paperback | Jan 2019 in store$16.10
