Mary Ellen Talley

The Young Wife Dreams

A black dog smaller than her own
sleeps nearby without licking her face
to wake her come morning.

A toddler plays quietly in a toy kitchen
then speaks in sentences
about making the family a picnic lunch
and wearing big boy pants.

Assorted mothers order her signature cakes
with intricately laced butter cream flowers
cascading layers during these wee hours
now ready for home delivery in glitter boxes.

The computer shames viruses
into remission and creates instant digital scrapbooks
ready for printing.

A beautician visits her house
to shape eyebrows and add foil highlights
to brunette tresses flung across the pillow.

The good fairy uses her wand
to fold baskets of clean clothes
and fly each piece to its drawer.

The camouflage clad husband returns from the hunt
with venison already packaged and labeled
for the freezer.

He prepares a breakfast of Belgian waffles
laden with strawberries and whipped cream
and takes the crepe myrtle to task
for not shading his young wife’s window.

Mary Ellen Talley’s poems have recently been published in Raven Chronicles, U City Review and Ekphrastic Review as well as in the anthologies, All We Can Hold and Ice Cream Poems. Her poetry has received two Pushcart Nominations.