Mary Beth Hines: “After Making Love”
AFTER MAKING LOVE
she leaves lights on and listens
for the lull and heave
of her sometimes lover’s deep-
dream breath, presses her tender
breasts against his back, breathes in
his hair before she flees
the tangle of sheets, lights up
outside on the fire escape—
final few precious tokes, smoky
courage for her coming revelation—
touches the inked planets circling
her wrist, shifts back and forth
in her cooling skin, her not yet
swelling belly, new center
of the reeling world whether
he chooses to stay or go
she’s already nostalgic
for this last simple night
when desire fashioned them dazzling
Mary Beth Hines has had recent poems appear in Bracken, Cider Press Review, Tar River Poetry, and The Lake. Kelsay Books published her first poetry collection, Winter at a Summer House, in 2021.