TOP prompt for Oct. 25, 2007: If She Tilts

Horse

In its stall stands the 19th century,
its hide a hot shudder of satin,
head stony and willful,
an eye brown as a river and watchful:
a sentry a long way ahead
of a hard, dirty army of hooves.
---------------------------



If she tilts
her head
just so
in the golden shafts
of sun,
I can see
a lone hair
growing
on her chin.

I consider telling
her about it
but we’re in the middle
of a card game
and she’s winning
so I don’t want
to spoil
this time
we have together.

Later that night
after she has climbed
the stairs
one step at a time
carrying the weight
of eighty-one
years of laughter
and sadness,

I, too get ready
for bed.
I brush my teeth,
wash my face
and apply
a night cream.
The light
catches a glint
on the curve
of my chin
and I stand there
looking in the mirror
at my mother.

~Linda Jacobs
October 26, 2007

TOP prompt for Oct. 18, 2007: The Door

On Hearing a Lute-Player
Your seven strings are like the voice
Of a cold wind in the pines,
Singing old beloved songs
Which no one cares for any more.

The Door

You open the door
after a week away
and the January air
slides in with you

wraps its arms
around my heart
in a bear hug
and tiptoes

up my spine
nestling into that space
just behind
my eyes.

I shut the door
that is now
just a screen
unable to protect

us from winter.

~Linda Jacobs
October 19, 2007