The Mountaineer’s Wife

By Barbara Swift Brauer

photo by Kai Visuals at Unsplash

Bad enough she couldn’t keep him home.

Bad enough the bed was wider every time he left.

 

When he brought his work home —

the bright mountains, the river canyons

flush with spring’s snow melt  —

 

she rearranged the guest room 

moved the winter clothes 

from the second closet, to make space.

 

The mountains kept arriving. 

The alpine lakes left a chill

in every room.  No amount

 

of vacuuming could quite remove

the trail dust from the carpet.

The trout flipping from tub 

 

to bathroom sink, streams

incessantly flowing, 

under the family room door.

 

Each evening, the alpenglow

lighting the living room walls. 

 


Barbara Swift Brauer is the author of two poetry collections from Sixteen Rivers Press: Rain, Like a Thief (2019) and At Ease in the Borrowed World (2013). A freelance writer and editor, she lives in San Geronimo, California.

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