The Blue Moon Review

Still Life with Bad Dog
by Janet Holmes

An azure-glazed pitcher; a few breakfast peaches; poppy blooms;
 Matisse's empty easel, akimbo; tourists loitering in the room . . .

 An aftermath of argument: harrowingly calm, night
 inscribes its farewell note and folds it behind the curtain.

 For weeks someone breathed threatening messages to my machine
 which I played back to myself some evenings, alone.

 So many rejected dresses thrown aside as she packed: they floated
 down to the bed and puddled in chairs after she'd left.

 Coming home late I found the down pillow gutted and shaken,
 furring with its soft innards every surface in the room.