Scarlet Nails

Reddest red. Butter-smooth polished nails
more than blood. The testimony of time

my mother spent self-caring, buffing,
lacquered. Those hours I was at school.

How it hurt
when she flicked her nails
at my lying lips.












Tricia Knoll is an Oregon poet with hair to blow and dampen down in the west wind. Her two books of poetry are Urban Wild (Finishing Line Press) and Ocean’s Laughter (Aldrich Press). www.triciaknoll.com