once striking,
no longer after he
struck

beautiful wife
crying in a corner
abused

rain drops
wash away
her face

your sparkling eyes
fade with the North Star—
jaded

top quarter champion =

top half champion =

bottom quarter champion =

front steps
used to
seem bigger

re-reading
a childhood favorite
pressed dandelions
slip to my lap

years later
the petals are still pink
on the dried rose

fifty years later,
the fair princess—
is not the frog

top half champion =

grand champion =

bottom half champion =

wrinkles—
lines of beauty
fade into history

one
wrinkle
too many

girl
in the mirror
a woman's
lost reflection

trying to find
her youth
in the mirror

top quarter champion =

bottom half champion =

bottom quarter champion =

the old woman
doesn't recognize
the girl in the picture

I see my face
in Mom's
wedding pictures

porcelain angels
count each year
from glass prisons

packed away
in the attic
her wedding dress