READING BETWEEN LINES.

A WOMAN AND THE LETTER THAT SEEMS TO HINT AT BETRAYAL.

Reading between the lines,

She doesn’t think he loves

Her anymore. The little clues

Stare out at her. The slant of

 

Writing seems to indicate he

Loves her less or not at all of late.

The choice of ink from blue to

Black, the neatness of his hand

 

Has given way to untidy scrawl.

She knows his writing best of all.

She sniffs the paper for another’s

Scent, some indication that some

 

Other's presence may be found

Soaked into the paper’s soul.

She holds the letter up to the light.

Some other’s fingerprint seems

 

There all right. She runs a finger

Along the lines, scanning each word,

Each scribbled letter, each dot

And comma. She senses betrayal

 

In the letter’s every line, a knife in

The back from each scrawled word.

She imagines him writing the letter

While some other woman licks his

 

Ear, whispering the words, touching

His hand and moving the pen. She

Sniffs the letter again. A hint of some

Cheap perfume. She sniffs once more,

 

Closing her eyes. She imagines what

Sort of woman wears such stuff, what

Kind of w***e. She runs through her

Mind any name he has mentioned,

 

Any image coming to mind, any woman

S****y enough to stink and glow.

She folds the letter slowly into neatness,

Places it back into the envelope, sits back

 

And lights a cigarette, brooding on her

Betrayer, but finding no other woman,

Lover or w***e, within her mind as yet.

Reviews

[vqfarrold]

Easy to read, imaginative, realistic depiction of suspicion and jealousy. Good start and good ending. In verse 4 'other' is missing an 's' after the apostrophe. Also 'another'/ 'some other' appear in succession here - the repetition grates a little.

[Terry Collett]

Thank you for reading. I have added the missing"s".