One day Michelle, and her English bulldog
Ginger, came to the courts to learn the game.
Blonde, tall—nuanced slender curves stoked fierce flames
Among the benched old men who watched her jog.
Though shy at first, she loosened up, perceived
Our admiration harbored no vile threats,
And greeted us with smiles, despite regrets
That festered, generating toxic grief.
Her beauty notwithstanding, she, divorced,
Lost custody of her three school-aged kids,
Lost self-esteem, presence, stunned by the din,
The anguish, that grim experience forced
On her. She hugged Ginger, breathed fumes that rid
Her of malignant pain beneath the skin.
(2/16/14}