The broken yellow line disappears
into the dark ahead. My rear-view mirror—
boundless black, trapped
in our mother’s womb, each other’s
arms. Trapped in a shared bed, your dark
rages, you drew a line, dared me to cross,
hurled angry words at me: I hate you.
I hate you. I wish you were dead!
You stalk my dreams, crouch in shadow,
clench scissors, knives, things that cut.
Strike. My screams
wake me. A blinding glare,
headlights fill my mirror, larger,
larger, beams on high, the past
lunging forward. Sister,
you overtake me in the night.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 21, Issue 4
Suzanne Rogier Marshall taught English to middle school students for nearly forty years, publishing several professional articles and a book on teaching poetry. Her poems have appeared recently or are forthcoming in Heartwood Literary Journal, Up North Literary Journal, Portage Magazine, Watershed Review, Tinderbox Poetry Journal, and other journals and anthologies. She is the author of Blood Knot, a chapbook published by Porkbelly Press in 2015.
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