From Marian <3
CUT FLOWERS
by Sheri L. Wright
After her double mastectomy
and the surgeon's knifings healed,
Joelle asked her daughter
where she had gotten her tattoo.
They sat together in the parlor,
sixteen hours all told,
the ink-gun buzzing like bees
replacing honey stolen from the hive.
That summer, she slices through surf
on her new board,
shocking onlookers
when she strides through breakers
and onto the beach
wearing only bikini bottoms -no top-
just a spray of morning glories there.
The shore patrol insist, "Put something on."
"On what," she'd like to know.
The sun curls around the crest of waves
just beyond the sandbar.
The tide is ebbing
and there's no time to lose.
by Sheri L. Wright
After her double mastectomy
and the surgeon's knifings healed,
Joelle asked her daughter
where she had gotten her tattoo.
They sat together in the parlor,
sixteen hours all told,
the ink-gun buzzing like bees
replacing honey stolen from the hive.
That summer, she slices through surf
on her new board,
shocking onlookers
when she strides through breakers
and onto the beach
wearing only bikini bottoms -no top-
just a spray of morning glories there.
The shore patrol insist, "Put something on."
"On what," she'd like to know.
The sun curls around the crest of waves
just beyond the sandbar.
The tide is ebbing
and there's no time to lose.