On sleepless nights as swallows circle barns
and oval raindrops rattle tin roofs, I enumerate
old lovers — men I hoped would love more than the turn
of my youthful curves, men who sleep now in beds
far from alfalfa, levee roads and the girl who rode a horse
until she tamed the fury in his step, pulled the reins back
with enough strength to stop him when she wanted to get off
and walk away from power unbridled in lust.
Moon Flowers on the Fence, Finishing Line Press
––Judith Bader Jones, poet, lives in Fairway, Kansas. Her collection of short fiction, Delta Pearls received the William Rockhill Nelson 2007 Fiction award. Moon Flowers on the Fence, a chapbook of poems was published by Finishing Line Press, 2010. The Language of Small Rooms, is slated for publication by Finishing Line Press, August 2011. Jones is an avid bird watcher and photographer and can be found on Facebook and www.judithbaderjones.com