"The itchy dress" by Karen Pierce Gonzalez

The itchy dress

and the rented colonial manor are ill-suited. Which is to say, they are not the right fit. Still, she stands obedient on the raised wooden platform of an I Do day; its Norman Rockwell threshold propped open at her feet. But those aren’t her toes.

The baseless white is everywhere: ribbon-wrapped chairs, wedding cake, guestbook. They form a muted horizon, wash away everything except her mother’s tight red velvet dress. With a black jacket, it dazzles.

The bride waits for the groom at the altar; an arbor of well-intended, but not-meant vows cascading over her - a trellis.

A note from the author: Forthcoming chapbooks: True North (Origami Poetry Project), Coyote in the basket of my ribs (Alabaster Leaves).