Renée Owen
Catch & Release
Home alone New Year’s Eve jumpy with a murder mystery shrill ring of the phone a tinny voice drawls out my first name…
crow caw
Remember me … Joey? backlash—junior high boyfriend glued together for years till forced to marry the shy prom queen who bears his twins…
the deepest cut
Rumor has it he’s still jigging with wife number 3 or 4 I’m boating down in the Keys using my friend’s phone mine lost in the drink more slurs fishing all right…
first love
Where’d you get my number cross-country moves name changes outrunning the hometown hard-partiers Oh I have my ways he burbles into my dimly lit house dark neighborhood maybe some perv on a cell down the street…
baiting the hook
Or maybe him trolling Hey can I fly you down to the Keys? Tonight? he laughs that slippery laugh…
with rubber worms
Slow wiggling Look I’m expecting a call from my husband on his way home I lie still spinning Ohhh he says so you’re married deep breath I pause Yeah so I need to go…
no bite
About the Author
Renée Owen’s award-winning books include This One Life (Backbone Press), Alone On A Wild Coast (Snapshot Press), and Scent of the Past. . . Imperfect (Two Autumns Press). A psychotherapist and an exhibiting visual artist, she enjoys performing her poetry with her musician husband and hiking the wilds near their Northern California home.