Smiley faces huddled around a table
gleaming and grinning, eyes staring
and spinning after their umpteenth trip
to the bar—providing the alcohol blanket
needed to combat the subzero temperatures
Families and friends and families of friends
mothers and grandmas, grandsons and cousins
running around, everywhere to be found
two branches interweaving
and shedding before winter
Middle aged woman in a black dress
taking long calculated sips of pinot
in between intimidating stares burning holes
into the bride of the groom—the groom
the newly engaged husband, that guy over there
She stalks the dining room like a leopard
in an empty jungle, the jaguar in the corner
getting sweet with his panther princess—
he’s losing his spots, she thinks
the ones she left on him, at least
The leopard wags her tail in the wings
stopping by the people she acquainted
spanned time with and ingratiated
(imminent ascent reciprocation)
she’s just the down escalator now
The camera guy takes several pictures
careful to hold for the help to pass through
but when he goes to review the photos he took
he finds a peculiar burst—
the leopard looking in the jaguar’s direction
mouthing aloud with no one around
She is cursing him, his lady, their children, their future
their home, their money, the large, minutia
his strut, his way, his air, his grace
his heart, his limbs, his (****), his space
he escaped her, but she cannot escape him
The first to leave and the first to return
venue changed over, the remnants are none
a lonely leopard in her four cornered room
revenge is sweet on the tip of her tongue—
presently numb