Ophelia’s Flowers

Shakespeare too lived in a time of contagion. 
We're not the first generation to be surrounded 
by death or have the theaters closed and flee the cities 
to save our lives. We simply haven't learned much 
in 400 years. Human nature is human nature. 

It's two in the morning and virtual Hamlet plays 
as I wake. It’s just as the prince orchestrates the deaths 
of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Just as the king, 
plots to end Hamlet’s life. It’s death upon death. 

It all should be too much for me. With hundreds 
of thousands dead, it all should be too much for 
all of us, but like some prehistoric crawling thing 
we go on deaf to the numbers. As sleep returns, 

I know Ophelia’s already dead, drowned in a brook 
holding purple flowers called dead men’s fingers.

Fabric Emporium

I worked there the summer before college and during breaks. 
I was often in the back inhaling the dry smell of fabric as it passed 
through my fingers, folding until I was excellent at it. 

It was a boring job but I didn't mind because its tedium 
was also an oasis of peace, and I loved to make stacks, 
placing broadcloth on broadcloth, linens on linens, 

felt on felt and admired the wake of order that I left behind.
At the Fabric Emporium some of the older women cut   
there for years maybe to have something to do and money 

of their own or maybe to make ends meet. They were then 
where I am now eyeing the approaching future.
One powdered-skin lady wore her hair up in a frizzy bun, 

pen or pencil tucked behind her ear and had a slight tremor 
of her hands. Jean knew a yard by sight and taught me a yard 
is the length from my nose to tip of my longest finger. 

She’d cut straight slicing silver sheers along the grain 
and could do math in her head like few can today. 
That was forty years ago, half a lifetime has passed 

and I could be Jean since I’m constantly doing math 
in my head. Cut this, cut that. Calculating the cost 
of living as the days fold neatly upon themselves.

ELLEN JUNE WRIGHT

Ellen June Wright was born in England of West Indian parents. She has consulted on guides for three PBS poetry series. She was a finalist in the Gulf Stream 2020 summer poetry contest and is a founding member of Poets of Color virtual poetry workshop.