Cindy Rinne

Chalking

I dream of the first words of books
of voyages. -W. S. Merwin

Mouth of grated tar, asphalt face.
Soft cloth to smooth the edges.

Orange slice on eye like cucumber
to calm. She views half the world

through pie-wedge membranes.
Juice drip tears stain

her cap-sleeve dress.
Her acidic son puts a handgun

to his chest and fires.
His bitter chalk-dust life

segments her mind: leaves her man
of five years, moves four hours

from her best friend, and marries
the first guy who asks her.

——

Cindy Rinne creates art and writes in San Bernardino, CA. Cindy won an Honorable Mention in The Rattling Wall Poetry Contest. Cindy is a Guest Author for Saint Julian Press. She is a founding member of PoetrIE, an Inland Empire based literary community. Her work appeared or is forthcoming in shuf poetry, Poetry Quarterly, The Prose-Poem Project, The Wild Lemon Project Literary Journal, Welter Literary Magazine, The Sand Canyon Review, Inlandia, A Literary Journal, Lili Literary Journal, and Phantom Seed. Cindy is collaborating on two chapbooks and working on a manuscript. http://www.fiberverse.com.