Karla K. Morton

NO GIVE

He was angry, having learned

something about her from their

neighbour.  But the truth was, in every way

but marriage, she

wasn't his anymore.  Six

years before, that last word, rock

hard;  wedged into the gap beside her heart,

forcing her taut;

fencepost straight.  He looks out on

all he owns; tests the give of

tight barbed wires with his finger; smiles at his

own bloody gash.