Glass

Bubbling excitement down the gift aisle

I witness the way these women move in love,

as they shop for Christmas presents -

Glasses embellished with baubles and trees,

anticipating the joy, it will bring to their families

Why are they afraid of us, afraid of our truth?

Why won’t they just let us be?

A woman browsing nearby, stops to question me

I know, I know, don’t watch the news anymore today,

give your soul some respite from all the worry and the pain

We chat a while in the candle aisle

A man comes and shoves his body into mine

Sorry he says, with a ‘not sorry’ undertone,

as I stop to question his intent with my eyes

Our conversation continues about the rights of women eroding,

until the woman shows me a three-wick pillar candle,

says she places it under a glass cloche in the window,

because she loves the light it shines.

Kelly Louise Marshall’s poem 'The Day Before the War', earned her the Poet Laureate title in Mslexia Magazine, and her poem, 'Boybands=Kryptonite' was featured as part of a worldwide, Poetic Map of Music project. Her poems 'Witch Hunt' and 'Divine' were also published in the US based, Afterpast Review. She is currently editing and working on an anthology project with some fellow poets, as part of The Scattered Poets Collective, and recently completed her first collection of poetry, and graduated with Merit from her her MA in Creative Writing with The Open University. She also has a BA (Hons) in English Literature and Creative Writing. She has had various features published in magazines such as Heroica.