Annette Sisson
Annette Sisson’s poems have appeared in Valparaiso Poetry Review, Birmingham Poetry Review, Rust and Moth, Lascaux Review, Glassworks, The Blue Mountain Review, Five South, Cider Press Review, and many other journals and anthologies. Her first full-length book, Small Fish in High Branches, was published by Glass Lyre (5/22), and her second, Winter Sharp With Apples, is currently seeking a publisher. Her poems have placed in several contests, including Frontier New Voices and The Fish Anthology, and nine have been nominated for The Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net, three of which happened in 2023.
Small Compensation
Twenty years of watching her twist
her hands, head bent over the notebook,
a long row of penciled numbers
subtracting
subtracting.
Paid bills on the floor, checks
and envelopes written, a small unpaid
stack, notes from the fridge door—
shoes for boys, choir trip,
piano lessons, scout dues.
She rubbed her knuckles, temples,
vertical line above her nose, waved
me away—Not now. This chore
she wore like a mule collar, reckoned
it her lot. Him the breadwinner
claiming his tournament fees,
cash for bowling shoes. Her clothes
all second-hand. When I landed
a salary I lured her to fancy lunches,
plied her with large packages, thick
shiny wrapping. Her face reddened
as she plumped the bow, split tape
with her fingernail, careful not to muss
the paper. She lifted the lid, palms
hovered, halting, reached inside.
