Face Cards

How young and lovely
the four mothers looked,
so different from my own;

though perhaps their
slightly puckered brows
belied their calm expressions.

In fact, the Queen of Clubs
looked anxious, if I looked
closely; so I didn’t,

preferring to ignore
those troubled eyes,
so like my own.











Martha Christina is a frequent contributor to Red Eft Review. Other work has appeared in Crab Orchard Review and Poetry Leaves. She lives in Bristol, RI, where for many years she taught in the creative writing program at Roger Williams University.

See more of her work in 8.2 and 8.2 and 7.4 and 7.3 and 7.2 and 6.3 and 6.3 again