lacerating
wounds cinched
under her chin with
extreme wrath of tone,
1888 letter carrier found
unconscious, her secret
tucked in envelope, stolen
to protect identity, so revealing
of an abuse, telegraph lines put
into the ground, communication
halted, funeral processions stalled,
coffins kept in nearby houses overnight,
washboard dirt roads obliterated, horse-drawn
wagons abandoned, churches open, is there life
without risk?

they
paid the
preacher
more to pray
harder, lacerating
wounds cinched under
her chin in curvy maple and
silver strings, only place open,
the church where her secret played
at the altar, she began to play, and then
harder and fiercer, Reuben James' horse
stopped, spread its legs and refused to budge,
trees moved from their very roots, her violin told
the secret resonating the girl child pushed on the
churchyard swing higher and higher until he could
see her elastic, the stretch of his desire he pulled down
tearing innocence from blood rupture, girl child to...

...woman,
lacerating wounds
cinched under her chin
with extreme wrath of tone,
painful awakening, when deceived,
becoming attentive to the least sound,
mistrusting a soil on which she had so
long ago placed her feet upon with confidence,
so revealing of an abuse, telegraph lines put into
the ground, communication halted...now they listen
to her in concert halls...

Copyright 1.9.2010 Ms. Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist