My Rival's House

• " My Rival's House is peopled with many surfaces"
• "cushions so stiff you can't sink in"
• "Tables polished clear enough to see distortions in"
• "We take our shoes off at her door, shuffle stocking soled, tiptoe"
• "Silver sugar-tongs and silver salver"
• "I am all edges, a surface, a shell"
• "But what squirms beneath her surface I can tell"
• "capped tooth, polished nail"
• "fight foul for her survival"
• "thank her nicely for each bitter cup"
• "Deferential, daughterly, I sip"
• "This son she bore"
• "never, never can escape scot free the sour potluck of family"
• "And oh how close this family that furnishes my rival's place"
• "Lady of the house. Queen bee."
• "She is far more unconscious, far more dangerous than me."
• "I was always my own worst enemy. She has taken even this from me."
• "salt tears pepper our soup."
• "She won't give up."