A Young Wife Speaks to Her Husband During Visiting Hours at Douglas County Jail

by Annie Klier Newcomer


You should be home
helping me
string slate and russet gems
into our lives' fortune.

We could be on fire
slow dancing
under a new moon.

Instead, I am here
visiting you. The only slate:
your grey t-shirt.
The only russet:
your orange prison pants.

* * * * *

Annie Klier Newcomer resides in Prairie Village, Kansas. Annie’s poetry has appeared in publications in Great Britain, (Orbis), New Zealand, (Studio), Australia, (Broadsheet) and the US (Coal City Review & Kansas City Voices). She provides poetry and playwriting classes at Turning Point, a Center for Hope and Healing under the auspices of University of Kansas Medical Center. Annie is in the Key West Cigar Factory Poets’ Group.