Peter Peter, by Linda Cooper

She lit a match, a candle,
a wick that was once only string
and wax. Something happened before that.
Her cheek on tile. Boot and fist.
The walls too slick to climb.
Slow seep of dignity and anger
until only loneliness remained.

The drift is hard to bear. Continental plates
wandering oceans. A sack of diamonds
embroidered with her name. Under
her pillow and her tangled hair.
Someday, released across the night sky.

For now, the candle is enough.
~~~

Linda Cooper completed her MFA at EWU, and her poems have been published in Verse Daily, Hayden’s Ferry Review, West Branch, Willow Springs, Third Coast, Tupelo Quarterly, Los Angeles Review, and many more. She won several poetry prizes. Her book, Blue, a Waltz, is out now by Floating Bridge Press.