fourth wife by stephanie yue duhem

Fourth Wife

I am his fourth wife         soft         as the dilapidation of houses in hill country.

Like certain clouds         I distinguish myself         from ash.

I delight to discover hardwood under carpeting

men’s wingtip shoes         lissome oil bottles         a coyote sliding backwards on an icy pond. 

My uniform rips open to divulge         a happy blue torso!

across which is written: Cataclysm         moves me I regret to say.

Colors pass over the sky like shift workers.

A cygnet extends his bill         one moment         before beating his wings.