It gets late so early now
dinner at five not seven
no wine allowed
(bottles stashed behind
winter boots)
no appetite, food picked at,
pretending, pushed around the plate
or piled in a stack like a child’s
broccoli or placed in a paper
napkin to be tossed later
avoiding the prying eyes
of your spouse watching every move
reporting later to your doctor
who tsks and takes notes
pajamas and pills at six
asleep by seven
this is not my life
I don’t know who I am
anymore
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 27, Issue 5.
Claire Scott is an award-winning poet who has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. She is the author of Waiting to be Called and the co-author of Unfolding in Light: A Sisters’ Journey in Photography and Poetry.
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