Wife Observing Husband After a Night of Not Making Love
Mark Evan Chimsky
He is more at home with a hand.
The glass door is all concentric impressions
going drowsy with the gradual steam.
I try to identify the water-dropped shapes—
the outline of his
fist in a steady slide is the only obvious motion.
I am no part of this sex.
The mirror, stealth accomplice, reflects his image
back to me.
His body sways brief as a gasp.
Is this enough? It is everything.
The glass turns blind as a shade,
a white amnesia.
I practice my way into sleep,
Perfecting my place in this bed.
The shower’s rush is loud;
like any embarrassment,
it is the only sound.
Full force, the waters
are indistinguishable—one cannot separate
the hot, the cold. It is the same with marriage; after years
of ironies
the difference between what is and what is meant to be
blurs with gentle sting
like fine water from a spigot.
Mark Evan Chimsky's poems and essays have appeared in The RavensPerch, Rabble Review, The Poet, Bard & Prose, Poetry for Ukraine, The Jewish Literary Journal, Kind Over
Matter, Bullets into Bells, Wild Violet, The Maine Sunday Telegram, The Oakland Review, JAMA, Mississippi Review, The Cincinnati Judaica Review, and The Three Rivers Poetry Journal.
Mark is excited to have his poems published in The Parliament. His poetry will also be appearing in upcoming issues of Blood & Bourbon, The Healing Muse 22, and The
Sunlight Press. Mark is a recipient of the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Award as New/Emerging Poet.