When those two people, cold, armored, fortified
against the assaults they had fought and conquered,
when those two faced each other, foundered,
grasped hands to make promises, to forge an accord,
in the almost empty church in front of the preacher
on a Saturday night, in front of her mother, his mother,
his father dead, her father deaf to anyone’s needs
but his own small ones,
when they left the church and went to the small
apartment just down the block that they would call
home until the first baby started to crawl,
when they shared a bed for the first time,
unfamiliar touches, awkward kisses, crossed a line
that she had not crossed before, he making a fine
show of manhood the first time. Then came the sun,
a bright light in the bedroom. They arose, put on
their wedding clothes, and went to church,
as was their habit.
~ Diane Wahto
Diane Wahto has an MFA in creative writing from Wichita State University. Her poem, “Someone Is Always Watching,” won the American Academy of Poets award. Recently, her poems “The Conspiracy of Coffee” and “After the Storm” were published in Active Aging. She, her husband, and two dogs live in Wichita, Kansas.
Guest editor: Denise Low, 2nd Kansas Poet Laureate, is author of twenty-five books, most recently Mélange Block (Red Mountain Press, Santa Fe). Low is past president of the Associated Writers and Writing Programs board of directors. Cream City Review nominated her fiction for a Pushcart Prize, 2014. She writes articles, blogs, and reviews; and she co-publishes a small press, Mammoth Publications. She teaches private professional workshops as well as classes for Baker U. Her MFA is from W.S.U. and Ph.D. is from K.U. She has British Isles, German, and Delaware Indian heritage. See more: www.deniselow.net http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/denise-low http://deniselow.blogspot.com
The Coop: A Poetry Cooperative 