Chuck deVarennes

A Lucky One

Sue sits
at her kitchen table
staring ahead
at nothing.
She doesn't hear
the neighborhood kids
shouting a counterpoint
to birdsong. Like
no one ever heard
her night cries.
Ken cracked her spirit
with her bones.
He bludgeoned her
with blame. The unwashed
dish. A picture
out of place. Sue
looked too plain
or much too pretty.
Everyone said Ken
was a great guy.
They believed him
and asked her why
she made him so crazy.
No answer. No
tears left to cry.
Deafened
by slammed doors,
Sue climbs twisting
slopes of lonely dreaming.
A place the briars
burst into blossoms
and the screaming fades
to children's songs.
Everyone stares at her.
She ignores their shaking
heads. Damn pity!
Sue implodes
in her exile,
where dreams kill
her old nightmares.
Brutal cost, but
she got away.
He lost.
She's a lucky one.

Chuck deVarennes lives in the mountains of north Georgia and commutes to Atlanta, where he earns his daily bread in the construction industry. He has published poetry locally and nationally, and he is co-host of a monthly poetry reading at Atlanta's famous Café Diem. Chuck was named Atlanta's Best Spoken Word Artist by the weekly newspaper Creative Loafing.