The Earrings That Sadie Wore by Dan Sicoli

they swung in
sanguine youth beauty
refrained
in your girlish green eyes
              like bicycle spokes
              arrayed in a globe of direction

as others echo old widow’s gossip
spill tequila under
whispers of pretense
that had made you wince
even as girl scouts whole-heartedly embraced you
holding your legitimacy as leader

later
with sleight of hand
you mend him
and after a tempered drive
make a tousle of clothes
into a catwalk of futility

into a dark house
you don’t need sun
to cast shadows

stinking of stupidity
he retrieves cold metal
from the bureau drawer
faux foreplay
and you give up
              an earring
              a bra hook
              a parting of lips

it only took one slippery finger’s bark
to admit the silence into your pillowed ear
deflating this mattress of compromise

alone now
your wide olive eyes in a staring girlishness
as harsh morning blazes stab through narrow blinds
slapping sparkle back into your
emerald earrings that had remained
atop the nightstand
in your upstairs bedroom
on 34 prelude circle
where humming wheels of passersby made
routine out of a negated day

Dan Sicoli, of Niagara Falls, New York, USA, is the author of two poetry chapbooks from Pudding House Publications (Columbus, Ohio), Pagan Supper and the allegories. He can sometimes be found in local dives, saloons and barrelhouses banging on an old Gibson with an area rock’n’roll band.