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DocuSign Envelope ID: DED368CC-D87F-4704-8F64-B8F2DB10EE93 <br /> "Field of Ice,' Constance (anthology), 2008 <br /> Field of Ice <br /> Lake Saint John this morning is like a field of ice <br /> with the sun caught in patches. I've lived between this lake <br /> and a cotton field for two weeks. .:ut my husband <br /> is back at work, near the city,Asking him not to go <br /> only left me standing alone on an unfamiliar highway. <br /> When [try to sleep,there's an old woman <br /> in the kitchen again, talking to her husband <br /> while she clears the kettle from the stove. <br /> He's near the front door, adjusting his hat. <br /> She wants him to come back in, but he just shouts <br /> his goodbye, opens the front door. She wants <br /> to give him a warning, but when she looks back <br /> over her shoulder,there's all that water rushing in. <br /> The only light in our city, my husband says, <br /> is the light of fires burning in the night. <br /> This morning I woke from the dream again, <br /> walked to the edge of the field <br /> to watch the early morning sky <br /> turn the cotton baby blue. Here, <br /> in Ferriday, uisiana, that barn out there <br /> still watches over cotton. <br /> Sunrise and the lake is like a field of ice with the sun <br /> caught in patches.An egret slices rose-colored water <br /> with one wing, like she just wanted to see <br /> what would happen. Max perks up too, curious. <br /> There's one soft line usbing across the surface, <br /> Max scoots closer, puts his tail across my feet. <br /> It's September 11_, 2005, <br /> The world's been different such a long time, <br /> and I just want to go home. <br /> My coffee mug, on the ground <br /> beside the swing, has had too long to cool. <br /> K, B, 'Young 2 <br />