And then you were ready
to change your life.
You were sure of it,
everything told you so:
not one bird flew out of place.
You said farewell to old friends
swept out the cupboards
and folded the blankets away
ordered the cars and cancelled the flowers.
You stood on the threshold,
even the elderly walking their dogs
heard all about it,
how you were ready,
with the wind
lifting your hair,
all animal just this once,
not much longer.
–
Elizabeth Loudon’s debut novel, A Stranger in Baghdad, was published in 2023 by Hoopoe Fiction (AUC). Her poetry appears in Lily Poetry Review, One Art Poetry, Blue Mountain Review, Trampset, Saranac Review, and Amsterdam Review, among others. She has lived in western Massachusetts and more recently in rural England.