Venus de Milo the First Night Her Husband Deploys to Iraq, by Sarah Colby

Venus de Milo, by Alexandros of Antioch (Greece) c. 130-100 BCE

Venus de Milo the First Night Her Husband Deploys to Iraq
 
Every sound is louder now.  
Skeletal leaves scratch the patio,
the neighbor’s garage door clangs shut, 
their television clamoring 
through thin duplex walls.
Water from the kitchen faucet falls 
like Niagara in the stainless-steel sink.
As the dreaming dog whimpers
moth wings sizzle against light
and time—a patient predator--
stretches on a limb of months
under which I curl unarmed. 

Sarah Colby
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Sarah Colby is a writer, art historian, wife of a retired Army Chaplain and mother to a Navy Veteran son.  She has an exuberant interest in making the ordinary luminous.  She enjoys writing poetry of place and is currently working on a manuscript of poems gathered from her experiences and travels as a military spouse. Sarah lives with her husband and two cats in San Antonio, Texas, where she mentors veteran/military writing groups.