Leaving The Bar

Our laughter shields us
into the 3am haze –
stagnant, like the sleep of Valium,
sleep thick with stillborn dreams
that spindle to earth like dead leaves.
And we know we have left Saturday night
back inside, conjured out of cigarette smoke,
fumes of whiskey spilled into the floor
as we danced and sang our desperation,
words slurried with beer and promises,
promises enough to wash us
out the door come closing time,
wash us light as shadows into our cars,
our beds, Sunday mornings
to forget.

Sheri L. Wright is the author of one full-length book of poetry, Nuns Shooting Guns, and four chapbooks, Sharks Never Sleep, Contains Scenes of Indigenous Nudity, The Courtship of Reason, and the most recent, The Slow Talk of Stones, by Finishing Line Press. Her works of poetry also appear in New Southerner, Pegasus, Leo, Out of Line, Chiron Review, Clark Street Review, Darkling, Earth’s Daughters, Crucible, Kentucky Monthly and many others. Wright also works as a freelance editor for a variety of books ranging from poetry to fiction and as a ghostwriter for websites such as Proud Single Moms and Deathcare.com. She has been a guest poet on Accents, at 88.1 on WRFL out of Lexington, Ky. and on Janice Lee’s “Featuring The Arts” on WSKV in Stanton, Ky. She has won awards with Jesse Poets, Green River Writers and the Kentucky State Poetry Society, has read extensively throughout the Kentucky/Indiana area and has also appeared at New York City’s Cornelia Street Café. She has been a volunteer editor for This I Believe. Wright has taught poetry workshops for Women in Transition, the Kentucky Young Writer’s Connection and the Kentucky State Poetry Society, and judged the poetry division in The Golden Nibs for the Virginia Writers Club and for the Green River Writers writing contest. She is a regional chair for the Kentucky State Poetry Society and is co-chair for their adult poetry contest for 2011. Wright currently is the host of From The Inkwell, a one-hour radio show dedicated to all things literary on CHRadio 1650am, live-streaming at http://www.CrescentHillRadio.com.

Wright’s visual work can be seen in Blood Orange Review, The Single Hound and is forthcoming in THIS Literary Magazine. More examples of her work can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/sherilwright. With Wright’s consent, all work is available for publication, unless otherwise noted.