Cathryn Shea has lived in Northern California most of her life and resides in Fairfax, CA with her husband and twenty pound cat, now that children have left the nest. She has worked for many years in computer software, using her studies in English Literature (plus untold post-degree hours) for product management, program management, and project management. In her work life, she has authored dozens of tech manuals, not to be confused with creative nonfiction. She is the author of two chapbooks, Snap Bean (2014, CC.Marimbo of Berkeley) and her latest, It’s Raining Lullabies (2017, dancing girl press). Her poetry has appeared in Poet Lore, Quiddity, Gargoyle, Tar River Review, Tinderbox, Permafrost, Rust + Moth, and other journals. Shea’s poetry has been nominated for Sundress Publication’s Best of the Net 2017 and she has poems in recent anthologies, including Luminous Echos by Into The Void, and The New English Verse by Cyberwit.net (India). She was a merit finalist for the Atlanta Review 2013 International Poetry Competition. In 2004 she received the Marjorie J. Wilson Award for Poetry from MARGIE. Cathryn served as editor for Marin Poetry Center Anthology and volunteers with the editorial staff there. See www.cathrynshea.com and @cathy_shea on Twitter.
Infidelity
I am on the road watching
an imaginary flood,
the river bringing tree parts,
headless fish.
Ask me where I was last night and I’ll tell you
the dogs dwell out in the barn,
they cower and chew dust.
Turn the hourglass over.
It sifts every plea, our prayers,
the rain we sang for today,
the first Psalm.
Doesn’t everything break eventually?
Behind a thunderhead the sun sets
and it will explode in some billionth year.
Here is moonlight
ragged on the leaves
in the dying breeze.
I’ve drawn a line in red across the belly of spring.
A bus floats past reminding me I am always on the outside
wishing for a ride to the place
where we can water the grass.