The Ghost Wife
Who, after years
with her husband,
years of rearing
their strapping boy,
is scorched by an eye.
She was gathering laundry.
The sun stuttered
from the clouds.
The rice bubbled
on the stove. Her hands
and face bubbled
too. She did not
cry out. She did not
speak. She was hurried
indoors. What to do?
The neighbors. The talk.
The thing to do was
lay her in a coffin
upstairs
and close the lid.
______________________
Esther Lin
Cold Thief Place
Alice James Books, 2025
