Woman In Blue Poem by Penelope Przekop

Ordinary morning, distant alarm and coffee coming
children waking, meandering bacon smell
authentic adults draping shirts and skirts, easily chosen
blue memories weave round my brain
aching for forgiveness
I wear their retrospection, a tight, burning crown
queen of nothing, who fought her way
out, forfeiting too much
salvation and damage, smoldering comfort
hitting snooze, sweating, peeling the blue
scratching with sore, bleeding fingertips
tipping, night before sipping, back and forth
working to forgive like a grownup woman
sometimes suspecting the blue weave gone
ecstatic before panic
cold from a new sting hitting
my brain, unprotected by the past
sinking to knees, snatching up the pieces
of the heavy headdress I earned
mirror in my dawning closet, naked aging skin
expanding middle, facing it unbothered
turning from my fragility, my harrowing reward
struggling to choose what might best match
wasting life, every new day
with extraordinary blue

(2015)