constructing poetry

Eliza Ann

she lingers on antique pages
between archaic sentences
and simple words that illuminate
the patterns of her days. her troubles.
her joys. the day she lost her gloves
in the garden because she wanted
to feel the soil pass between
her fingers and the sun in her hair.
her mother scolded the sun baked
freckles that appeared and treated her skin
with a mash of asparagus and lemon juice
that tinted her cheeks pale green.

she was in the last echoes
of childhood, her hair still caught
in a braid straight down her back,
in that cusp before she would become
a woman, ready to tie it up. she refused
to let the boy, the one who sat behind her
in Sunday school, know
how often his name graced
her pen, but she was certain she
was meant for him when he
became a man.

day by day her life unfolds,
her dreams winging through the years
until April twenty-third, eighteen-thirty-eight
when she disappears, her voice
muzzled, and blank lines
cover the unfinished journal
with questions answered only
by an angel in the churchyard
and a story of a storm and a swollen stream
told to her sister’s
great-great grandchildren.

line count: 34

Prompt for April 16, 2016 ▼

Subject or Theme: Use ONE of the following 3 phrases both as a theme for your poem and in your poem: old winds, unfinished journal or possibles bag (if you don't know what this is, google it!) Be sure your phrase is highlighted in green.

Word(s) to Include: asparagus, antique, muzzle (or any derivatives of these words)

Forbidden Word(s): write, blow, gun, gust, read, weapon (or any derivatives, compound or hyphenations of these words)
Additional Parameters: 24 lines minimum, rhyming or not.

Remember, do not use forbidden words ANYWHERE, including title or the brief description.