Iris

by Cynthia Anderson


At the optometrist, the young woman
helping me choose new frames

has a tattoo on her forearm—
a woman’s name. A lover?

No, she tells me, my mother.
My husband joined the military

so we moved cross country—
I can’t afford a trip back

to Georgia to see her—
this way, she’s always with me.


* * * * *

Cynthia Anderson lives in the Mojave Desert near Joshua Tree National Park. Her poems have appeared in numerous journals, and she is a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominee. She has authored nine collections and co-edited the anthology A Bird Black As the Sun: California Poets on Crows & Ravens. Recently she guest edited Cholla Needles 46, which is available on Amazon. www.cynthiaandersonpoet.com