Proper Wife
Pris Campbell, August 2009
She serves dinner precisely at six,
corned beef every Wednesday,
wears sensible shoes, never
runs in the rain or collapses
helplessly over a silly joke.
She submits once a month
to his groping,
gown on,
arms to her side,
legs barely spread.
She doesn’t move
(that would be unseemly),
won’t kiss him,
won’t turn on the lights,
look into his eyes.
She’s glad when his jerk
says it’s over, marks
the date on her mental calendar.
She’s never known what it’s like
to fly, holding him close, their
bodies moving beneath them
or hear angels sing
when she wakes in the morning.
Hourglass
Pris Campbell, August 2009
When we were young,
we never did put a name to it,
this thing between us.
I let it fall away,
slide through my fingertips
like fine-grained sand.
You scooped it into a pouch,
kept it safe in your pocket.
Youth no longer gilds
me with favor.
Vultures circle my shoulder blades.
I tell you why you should reject me,
make detailed lists.
You take out the pouch,
pour sand till it fills my hands.
Look, you say, flicking away the greedy birds,
it glitters as gold in the sunlight,
made even more precious
by the passage of time.
Among other poetry journals and anthologies, Pris Campbell’s poetry has appeared in Chiron Review, Cliffs: Soundings, MiPo (digital and print, most recently the OCHO Twitter issue), Wild Goose Review, Blue Fifth Review, and The Dead Mule. She was featured poet in In The Fray and Empowerment4Women in 2008 and in From East to West in 2009. She also was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2008. Her third chapbook, Hesitant Commitments, was released in late 2008 by Lummox Press (www.lummoxpress.com) as part of its Little Red Book series. She is in the Best of Little Red Book series, as well as The Best of Boxcar Poetry Review anthologies. Formerly a Clinical Psychologist and avid sailor, she was sidelined by CFIDS in 1990 and now lives in the greater West Palm Beach, FL with her husband.
