Mary Jean Port
After the Wedding
My older sister came home bruised.
Mother said, “You made your bed,
now lie in it.” I think of this
when I smooth our warm sheets,
straighten the down comforter
with its orange paisley pattern.
Why did she say that. Did she believe
women are trapped—it didn’t matter
the man, it would all work out the same.
She said, Don’t mouth off
like your grandmother, that’s when
she got hit. My sister’s face a window
to raw fury. She knows she was robbed.
Mary Jean Port is the author of the chapbook The Truth About Water (Finishing Line Press, 2009). Her poetry is forthcoming in The Halcyone, Leaping Clear, and ellipsis…. She lives in Minneapolis, where she taught at The Loft Literary Center for twenty years.
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