Burgundy and the Blues, by April Woody

Helen and The Swan, by Stephanie Hamer (England) 2023

​Burgundy and the Blues

With modest means but much to lose,
she lifts her chin like someone greater,
leans into burgundy and the blues.

Sweet overtures she can’t refuse,
sinking down into a crater,
with modest means but much to lose.

A cheek turns to catch a bruise
that fills and swells, she feels it later,
steeped in burgundy and the blues.

Clutched by the neck, a bag of refuse,
lured by the elegance of a traitor
with modest means and much to lose.

With eyes closed she reads the cues,
learns to be her own translator,
subsists on burgundy and the blues.

She smooths her skirt, takes time to muse.
How to become her life’s curator?
With modest means but much to lose,
she sips on burgundy and the blues.

April Woody

This poem was the winner of an ekphrastic challenge at the Wee Sparrow Poetry Press in February 2024.

April Woody lives in Virginia. She enjoys writing in various forms. Her work appears in the anthology Ourselves in Rivers and Oceans, published by The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press, contemporary haibun online, and drifting sands haibun.