The Miss Havisham Effect, by Tricia Marcella Cimera

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The Miss Havisham Effect

It was years ago that I took this photograph of her. 
She had found out the wedding was off  —  on the
very day!  He wasn’t coming, didn’t want to marry
her after all.  The doctor gave  her a sedative.  See
how languid her hand  looks, almost as if she  was
sleeping but she wasn’t, just staring straight ahead. 
I had  to clean  the  cigarette  ash from the oriental
carpet; she  could  have  burned  the house down! 
See how lovely her dress was, all the little flowers.
She  wore   that   dress   for   months  (well,  years)
afterwards; she never left the house.  I know, I was
with her.  We  were so close, don’t  let  anyone tell
you otherwise.  She never did get over him leaving
her at the altar.  She pined and pined for him. Such
sadness.    I  never left  her after he  jilted  her.  Not
that she ever  thanked  me.  Or really ever  noticed
me.   How  much  I cared.  Still, there  was  no  one
else.   Her  ashes  are  there, on  my mantel.  Oh, I
have  lots  more  photographs of  her through  the
years — would you like to see? 


Tricia Marcella Cimera

This poem was written as part of the 20 Poem Challenge.

Tricia Marcella Cimera will forever be an obsessed reader and lover of words. Look for her work in these diverse places: Buddhist Poetry Review, The Ekphrastic Review, Foliate Oak, Fox Adoption, Hedgerow, I Am Not A Silent Poet, Mad Swirl, Silver Birch Press, Stepping Stones, Yellow Chair Review, and elsewhere.  She has a micro collection of water-themed poems called THE SEA AND A RIVER on the Origami Poems Project website.  Tricia believes there’s no place like her own backyard and has traveled the world (including Graceland).  She lives with her husband and family of animals in Illinois / in a town called St. Charles / by a river named Fox.