Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Realization Stains by Sandra Ketcham


Your memory moves slightly

against
the kitchen wall

With bruised knuckles I
paint you
in strands, in
stripes
of amaranth,
mustard and denim blue

I paint you
life-sized to dance with me, your
dark hair tickling my
shoulders, your
salty syllables
dripping down
my neck

I paint you
how I remember you,
how I want you to be:

with golden eyes, howling at the vapid seaside joggers, their
tiny rubber doggies, their sweat-soaked name-brand shorts

I paint walls of you, all
of you
beneath trees, inside
sky

I wonder how you'd look
today
&
I sigh,
shallow,
sink into the carpet fibers,

their frayed gray strands sting
my feet

Author bio:

Sandra Ketcham currently lives in Orlando, where she works as a full-time freelance writer and editor. She is pursuing her degree in psychology and spends her free time working with autistic children and their families. Her poetry is recently published or forthcoming in Rusty Truck, Eunoia Review, Calliope Nerve, Yes, Poetry, Psychic Meatloaf, Cherry Blossom Review, and others. Sandra has a strong aversion to llamas.

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