Truth or Dare
One winter we three
gathered together to ride
imaginary Palominos’
as if we could be Cher
on that half breed album.
We wanted to be anything
other than who we were.
Outside heavy snow fell
as we cursed the locked
door while our mother
was out all night playing
cards she said, smoking
menthol's at the table
the next morning.
We had our own lies too.
Bad boys had smart mouths,
fast hands and tongues.
We played tough tacks and
learned to lean back
against the wall, unbutton
our white blouses
after losing a game of
truth or dare.
Mother’s sharp red nails
were a grave warning.
Her scowl said not to
give into lust before
marriage because we
would be an entirely
different breed of girls.
Susan Sanders
My poems have
appeared in Flying Horse, Soapbox, The Vermont Literary Review,
Common Ground
Review, The Lucid Stone, Moon Rising, Falling Star Magazine and
several others. Susan
Sanders teaches writing classes in addition to writing poetry and fiction.
She lives 5 miles
from the Canadian border and seeks inspiration from reading and walking
near rivers. Her book
Behind These Hills (co-authored post-posthumously)
with her daughter
Jessica Sicely is available on amazon. com.
Tags:
Poetry
Powerful poem, a perfect mix of life's hard lessons and nostalgia.
ReplyDelete