She Remembers, by Stephanie Pressman

The Proposition, by Judith Leyster (Netherlands) 1631

She Remembers
 
The room.
One wall, one desk,
one chair where she sits,
one flame that spreads
light on the handwork
she tends to.
The fine, even stitches
that bring her pennies.
The persistent thought.
Will I have to rip out
the work? Start again?

The light on her white blouse,
her skirt darkening away from it,
her feet on a foot warmer,
the skirt like a blanket holding
in the warmth,
the rest of her frozen,
her tightening muscles.

The clink of the coins
in his right hand—more
than she’s made all year--
the weight of his left hand 
on her shoulder unbidden,
his winey breath polluting
the air with every wily
word, the whine of his voice.

The moment that voice 
grows sharper, when the hand 
tightens. Small things 
remind her. 

Stephanie Pressman

A graphic artist and lifelong poet, Stephanie Pressman earned an MA in English from San Jose State University, taught writing at community college, and is the editor of the small press, Frog on the Moon. She served as co-editor of Cæsura and americas review. Her work has appeared in both print and online journals. Her poem “Self” was a finalist in The Ekphrastic Review’s 2021 Women Artists Contest. Her long poem Lovebirdman appears in an illustrated volume available on Amazon. Currently, she is working on a volume of ekphrastic poetry featuring women artists, many of whom she was unfamiliar with before beginning the project.