she loved the intoxicating euphoria
of having unlimited choices, of starring

in two separate plays, the drama queen
of her own kitchen, and the amazing geisha

in a far-off teahouse, in time she learned
to overcome guilt and piling dishes

the less she stepped out from the new
world, the more irreparable was the old

where there was no room left for her
fulgent, addictive, storming feelings

and the steamy, daily calls- only doves
on telephone lines knew all about them




Verse Affire, 2011, The Ontario Poetry Society