Roberta Tovey

Another Anne poem

That evening
Anne planned a suicide.
She disconnected the telephone.
Then she straightened the house,
            brushed the dog
            took out the garbage,
hid the dirty clothes in the closet.
She put on music she especially liked and filed her nails.

John was working late that night
so she knew she’d have plenty of time.
She took a shower,
dried her hair,
put on a new dress.

Her face didn’t matter, she decided,
putting away the mascara.

Then she took the dog for a long, slow walk.
She had lots of time.
She had a plan.
The details didn’t matter.
When she got home,
she’d have all the time in the world.

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Roberta Eve Tovey is a writer, editor, and poet. A former assistant professor of literature with a doctorate from Princeton, she now serves as director of communications at the psychology department of a major Boston hospital. Her poetry has recently appeared or is forthcoming in Consequence, Slipstream, Minyan Magazine, the Comstock Review, Of the Book, and other literary journals.