Submit your work, meet writers and drop the ads. Become a member
 
Emmie van Duren Apr 2017
Sunlight flares across the glass as her face stares out, eyes wreathed in wrinkles and slitted slightly, thin mouth drawn down in pain or bitterness or maybe disappointment.
Blue sky reflects in the faded pupils and silvery hair whispers like fairy floss above the pink scalp.  Pale blotchy skin creases and pleats itself over the bone structure.
She lifts a veined, liver spotted hand, knotty with arthritis, to her lips.
I study the outline of her face, looking for the young girl with long, glossy brown hair I remember. She of the thrown back throat, ready laugh and warm smile.
The passionate one - forgiving quickly because she loved much and was loved in return.
She's survived her husband by many lonely years.  
Ah, wait! - there's the dimple hidden in the folded skin.  
Time stands still as we search each other's eyes, looking for a connection until I notice a tear sliding down along her nose.
I turn away from the mirror.
© Emmie van Duren 21st April 2017
Emmie van Duren Apr 2017
Chittering, flittering, spiky legs skittering,  black crickets sneak underneath the back door -
Skidding on lino and diving for cover as broom bristles sweep them across the smooth floor.
Hiding in crevices, antennae waving, they creep out when I’m dozing off in my chair -
launch at my night light, their whis'pry wings whirring, to tangle their crooked black feet in my hair.
© Emmie van Duren  17th April 2017
Emmie van Duren Apr 2017
She’d known all along of course...but buried the knowledge under the star bursts of hope that bloomed whenever he smiled at her.  (God, how she loved that crease curving from his nose to the corner of his mouth –  a small detail burned forever in her heart’s picture of him.)
Spikes of unease at being so besotted and vulnerable were soothed away as his southern drawl wooed her soul but it was just a matter of time. The axe fall of final rejection cut deep.
                                    We crave acceptance,
                                    Seeking truth behind the eyes.
                                    Rejection wounds us
© Emmie van Duren 7th April 2017    
Emmie van Duren Nov 2015
Like fairy drum rolls
rain drips from eave to bucket
widening rust holes
© Emmie van Duren Nov 2015
Emmie van Duren Nov 2015
Stuttering, puttering, bright wings a'fluttering,
filmy fragility feeding at flowers;
dancing and chancing its luck at romancing,
the butterfly lives out its hours.
© Emmie van Duren Nov 2015
Emmie van Duren Nov 2015
Under sultry summer heaven, lightning unzips her leaden sky
to the thunderous applause of leering, jostling clouds.
Fat tears fall slowly then hastily, weeping away the dust of drought.
© Emmie van Duren Nov 2015
Next page