Taking It All Back
She catches her ring as it bounces off the wall,
puts it on and dabs her eyes. She throws the door
open as he backs in, suitcase in tow.
Shattered dishes re-assemble in her hand.
The kitchen fills with screaming. He staggers
out again, lipsticked collar, whiskey breath
and all. Babies suck back into her womb.
They jet tail-first from a honeymoon in Spain.
In reverse, they waltz across the ballroom floor,
wipe cake from each other’s faces, dance again,
climb in the white limo back to the church.
They kiss, say “Do I?” Each one takes the ring
from the other’s finger, then she strides
back up the aisle, and out the big front door.
By Bruce W. Niedt
Bruce W. Niedt is a "beneficent bureaucrat" from southern NJ whose poetry has appeared most recently in The Lyric, Schuylkill Valley Journal, Up and Under: The QND Review, US 1 Worksheets, and Fox Chase Review. His awards include first prize for poetry at the Philadelphia Writers Conference and a Pushcart prize nomination. His latest chapbook is Breathing Out (Finishing Line Press, 2009).
