SHOWCASE SUNDAY

Gertrude
origin: German, meaning: adored warrior

An unbeliever,
she makes love
with the lights on,
her room a bunker
with no windows.

She undresses
her wounds first,
tells tales of civil
wars fought
but never won,

her skin tastes
like gunpowder
and smells like smoke.

She says
not to worry,
she eventually releases
all prisoners.

She pulls your
mouth to hers
captures your hair
in her fingers,
then pushes you
past enemy lines.

Stretch marks
are trenches
in the fierce light,
she sees them, dares you
to call her beautiful.

- Irene Latham

Know someone named Gertrude? Or someone who SHOULD be named Gertrude? Her strength inspires me.

"If a writer knows enough about what he is writing about, he may omit things that he knows. The dignity of movement of an iceberg is due to only one ninth of it being above water."

- Ernest Hemingway