Yvonne Hardenbrook
Breaking Away
Imagine her standing on the edge
of a girder, bruising her soles
on the I-beam's serif. Her resolve
quickens. She strides above air,
ascends to the face of the moon.
Imagine she reminds herself
that leaving one life is launching
another. She follows a valley
to heights of steep craters, breathes
the must of a woman's dream.
She finds the moon cold, turns to see
earthlight, longs to summon the fire.
Unsure now, she pauses, hears her voice
whisper the words of a ballad.
Her eyes burn, sting with regret.
There is no way back. She steps
her raw footprints in dust on the moon.
Yvonne Hardenbrook is a retired classroom teacher who began publishing 20 years ago. Her work has appeared in Pudding, The Pittsburgh Quarterly, Amelia, Black River Review, The Bridge, passager, and Voices International. Anthologies include A Gathering of Poets (Kent State University Press), Wind Five Folded, and Haiku World. Breaking Away first appeared in A Wider Giving: Women Writing After a Long Silence (anthology by Chicory Blue Press in 1988.)
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