Phantoms From Another Wife Poem by James McLain

The old woman comes home without breasts
phantoms from another life
and last night, when he
her drunk lover
they mixed it over one bottle until it becomes the full moon
pulled apart a shadow in the front reappears from the back.
And when pink caps red snow over after turning it left
one turn quarter right
pressure builds in the brown bottle neck
that resembles a swan when from it is drunk.
The baby over feeds from a hand holding the light.
Breastfeeding her dog from the nipple in the middle
below the left breast
a ripped hole in the green satin wedding dress
now stained brown.
The old woman overstressed herself that day
after the dog suckled from her baby instead of her
as he watched from the grass
in amusement through the window over her dresser.