Martha Leaning at the Window, by Morgan Grayce Willow

Dining Room in the Country, by Pierre Bonnard (France), 1913.

Martha Leaning at the Window
 
Perhaps she whispers
the cat’s name,
tsk tsks to her,
inviting her out of doors
into the garden
where light is captured and tossed
from shrub to the burnished sky
then back to flowers
so brushed by breezes
that corals and peaches
spring off their surfaces
before shape can contain them.
 
Inside, the walls hug burnt orange to themselves,
determined not to share
anything with periwinkle tablecloth,
almost strong enough to slam
the turquoise and aqua door
shut in Martha’s face,
selfish as fire.
 
Morgan Grayce Willow
  
Morgan Grayce Willow published her third poetry collection Dodge & Scramble in 2013 (Ice Cube Press). Her essays have appeared in Water~Stone Review, Imagination & Place: Cartography, as well as the anthology Riding Shotgun: Women Write about Their Mothers, recently re-released in paperback by Borealis Books. She completed the book arts core certificate at Minnesota Center for Book Arts and exhibited her original artist’s book Collage for Mina Loy in 2016. Morgan lives in Minneapolis and teaches at The Loft Literary Center.