Poise

She walked away from the room numb
oblivious to the days that would come after, there would be consequences
to letting them touch her, she knew
there would be some. There would be

voices in the dark for years, flashbacks of hands
the sink of dread at the click of a door latched shut
sleepless nights. If I could have been there
I could have told her that even this all goes away

tell her about the better men she would meet
the children she would have, the way her husband would
hold her in his arms while they slept
years into their marriage. I would tell her

not to worry, not to regret
the singular, awfulness of that one short afternoon
that all roads, for her
would still lead to perfection.

Holly Day’s poetry has recently appeared in Asimov’s Science Fiction, Grain, and Harvard Review. Her newest poetry collections are In This Place, She Is Her Own (Vegetarian Alcoholic Press),  A Wall to Protect Your Eyes (Pski’s Porch Publishing), Folios of Dried Flowers and Pressed Birds (Cyberwit.net), Where We Went Wrong (Clare Songbirds Publishing), Into the Cracks (Golden Antelope Press), and Cross Referencing a Book of Summer (Silver Bow Publishing), while her newest nonfiction books are Music Theory for Dummies and Tattoo FAQ.