To Wives

Terrified and distracted
animals on a treadmill
we climbed, falling back
to solid ground: the final stage.

Screaming insanity (we rose out
of ignorance): we sensed,
dimly, that we
fully understood nature.

Wives
                       unthinking
                       callous
                       cruel
no love in such persons
convinced of their
heartlessness.

Surprise us with new-old-sweet-
selves. Dash the new structure
of affection.

Could we have been
so mistaken? They were
strangers, a great wall
had been built.

They did not love
(so blind). Their judgment
meant ruin to them.

 

Source Text: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services Inc., Alcoholics Anonymous Fourth Edition (New York: AA World Services Inc., 2001)

Natasha Del Bianco lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. She is a queer mother, a legal writer, a part-time poet, and a full-time dreamer. Her poetry has appeared in Thirdspace and Esoteric.