Two Poems by Nancy Machlis Rechtman
My Side Of the Bed
Even after I change the sheets
They never lie smoothly
On the other side of the bed
And I can still feel the depression
In the mattress
That’s now just an open scar
Taunting me
Stinging like a manic wasp
As I curl up in a ball on my side of the bed.
Sometimes in the haze
Between stupor and the coffee jolt
I reach out
Believing if I click my heels three times
I’ll find my way home
And maybe he’ll swoop down from the sky like Superman
To rescue me from myself
With a never-ending kiss
That will bring me back to life
And pull me out of the inky blackness
In the bottomless well
Of solitude
In my side of the bed.
In the dark my tears try to drown me
And I fear he’ll never come
That after all this time
He’s probably lost his way
Or found another story to jump into
Where the kisses will be sweeter
And the magic will be stronger
Because the forest is too dark
For any chance of light to break through
To my side of the bed.
Queen Of the Night
She conceals her beauty
From the world
Beneath a pile of straggly sticks
And awkward stems
Every day of the year
Except for one.
Anyone walking past her
Would be unaware
Of the exquisite charm
And allure
Biding its time within
The deceptive exterior
Unless they intuit
That she is worth waiting for.
She is prickly
And so unremarkable looking
That she is easily ignored
Being found only in the desert
Where the days are filled with unbearable heat
And the barren environment is arid
And unwelcoming
So you have to know
That what she will reveal
To those who know there is more to her
Than what can be seen only on the surface
Is worth the effort.
Because that one night will come without warning
When she bursts forth in her full glory
Draped in the trappings
That all beauties know how to display
To their full advantage
Reveling in the gaping stares
And slack-jawed grins
Of those who had hoped to find
What was hidden within.
She is now open to those who understand
They are finally being rewarded
For their patience
And there is a burst of velvety white flowers
That like trumpets, herald her arrival
And a sweet, intoxicating scent
Fills the air
Seducing everyone there
As they fall in love
And gaze at her in awe
As she sensuously unfolds her secrets
Slowly throughout the night.
Eventually dawn approaches
And she is spent
Slowly relinquishing her beauty
Back to the earth
Until the light of day reveals
That she is gone
But traces of her perfume
Remain to remind them
That she was once there
And ruled the night.
Nancy Machlis Rechtman has had poetry and short stories published in Literary Yard, Paper Dragon, Page & Spine, The Thieving Magpie, Quail Bell, Anti-Heroin Chic, Blue Lake Review, Goat’s Milk and more. She wrote freelance lifestyle stories for a local newspaper, and she was the copy editor for another local paper. She currently writes a blog called “Inanities.”