Peril Unknown, by Diana Cole

The Space In-Between, by Yolanda Pena Mazzoni (USA) 2022.

Peril Unknown
 
The woman in custody
folds into a shadow, flames
of hair fall lethargic.
Glacial light zeros in,
her back riddled with eyes
that accuse without mercy. 
 
What is she guilty of,
huddled with bent limbs
like a spotted fawn
in the sights of a gun?
Already you condemn her
with your curiosity. 
 
Does she silence herself
to a marriage she deserves,
or so believes,
when he opens fire
every chance he gets?
By now her spine porous.
 
Or is she detained
at the Mexican border
behind a chain link mistrust,
the floodlights of liberty
flickering endless
circles of interrogation?
 
Make what you will of her peril.
But note the softened edge,
colour that bleeds into shadow,
brings warmth to the space
in between light and dark,
pleading clemency.

Diana Cole

Diana Cole, a Pushcart Prize nominee, has had poems published in numerous journals including Poetry East, Spillway, The Tar River Review, Cider Press Review, The Public’s Radio 89.3, Friends Journal, Verse Daily, Tipton Poetry Journal, The New Verse News and most recently in The Main Street Rag and Crab Creek Review. Her chapbook, Songs by Heart was published in 2018 by Iris Press. She is an editor for The Crosswinds Poetry Journal and a member of Ocean State Poets whose mission is to encourage the reading, writing and sharing of poetry.