Five Poems by Robin Wright

 

Bitten 

 

We dance naked  

on a river of light, 

slip into the jungle  

as you enter me, 

stretch and burn, grind  

the balance to dark war. 

Winter rain pounds  

like labour pains. 

Hair grows at speed  

of slip-on shoes. 

Gloves cover  

prints and guilt. 

 

 

 

Carnival 

 

Step right up, 

ride to the middle 

of regret. 

 

Price of a ticket: 

your bleeding soul 

under glass for all to see. 

 

Set it by the bearded lady. 

Her bewhiskered face 

catches her tears. 

 

She sells the strands 

to clowns who tie them 

around balloons,  

 

let them 

drift upward  

until they burst. 

 

 

Go Meet Alice 

 

Don white whiskers and a tale  

shimmy your tail on down 

the rabbit hole 

Cross your fingers 

and forget why you came 

Alice is suds and soda 

spice and spruce 

She’ll lean on you 

tell you to grab 

a ladder and come 

visit her face 

You lick her nose 

know you’ll be back 

this tale satisfyingly slow 

 

 

 

In the Air 

 

morning breeze 

shakes tree leaves  

over trash 

critters follow 

the scent 

 

blue mitten wavers 

on the playground 

swirls onto a bench 

a little girl gallops over 

snuggles it to her face  

slides it onto her hand 

 

an elderly man shivers  

pulls coat collar   

to his ears 

tugs hat to head  

just before it blows  

out of reach 

 

morning air bows gracefully 

today all are carried  

all connected 

 

 

 

Their Future  

 

Stark streets frame the couple 

standing under the streetlight’s glow. 

She lingers in front of him  

at arm’s length. Each time  

he steps toward her, she slips back. 

 

Him, a pin-striped suit, 

her, a soft blue dress 

with a full skirt. 

They don’t seem to belong  

here on this corner  

with overflowing dumpsters  

that smell of rotten trash. 

 

She turns and walks away. 

He stares at a newspaper 

tossed on the curb, 

as if for an answer.  

 

The child in the woman’s womb 

knows nothing of the silence 

between them.. 

 

Robin Wright lives in Southern Indiana. Her work has appeared in One Art, Loch Raven Review, The Beatnik Cowboy, As it Ought to Be, Bombfire, Rat’s Ass Review, Spank the Carp, The New Verse News, and others. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee, and her first chapbook, Ready or Not, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2020.